The Seven Sins
by Mmedubarry
Summary: We all know those familiar transgressions, the seven deadly sins which hinder our progress to be better people - Envy, Pride, Wrath, Sloth, Greed, Gluttony and Lust- but when you're Harvey and Jessica its just a normal day at the office. There will be cameos by other characters but this is a Jarvey snapshot series of some of their more flawed moments & their dynamic relationship.
1. Envy

[A/N: So I had a new idea for a story series…the 7 Deadly Sins of Harvey and Jessica's relationship. They are very flawed people so it's kind of appropriate. It will cover Envy, Greed, Pride, Wrath, Lust, Gluttony, Sloth. This one will be a series of unrelated snapshots, some inspired by the show's storylines and others completely AU. We'll see where the imagination takes me but I am going to have some fun with these hopefully push some boundaries with Jarvey. **Chapter: Envy** is set in late Season 3. Reads and Reviews are so very much appreciated. Enjoy!]

 **En·vy**

 **noun**

 _1\. a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else's possessions, qualities, or luck._

 _synonyms: jealousy, covetousness;_

If he didn't know better Harvey could have sworn…Jessica was jealous.

Jessica was a sneaky negotiator. He couldn't help but notice her sly tactics to get more information than he was willing to divulge, slinging three quick questions in a very strategic order, the last being a question of his love for Scottie. Jessica said them so fast that if he weren't paying attention he may have missed that rapid nervousness in her voice.

Why did she care?

As far as Harvey was concerned, all Jessica should have been concerned with his request to hire Scottie was what her potential billable forecasts could be and her start date.

Instead, he had discovered a mighty tell. Jessica's strategy failed her.

Harvey noticed her resistance on the little merit that she held in the palm of her hand, questioning him as hard as she did in regards to Scottie. He also saw the nervous tick when she sat back in her seat, shifting uncomfortably as she uttered her insincere wishes of finding happiness with Scottie when he told her he wanted a relationship with Scottie.

Harvey was amused.

All he could do at that moment was add a snide "Thanks, I'll pretend you meant that." He definitely didn't expect that reaction to his confession.

Over the next few weeks Harvey observed Jessica more closely. He observed the things she said, the way she moved, and the actions she took. Harvey noticed Jessica's clothing became more overt; the cuts a little more sexy and revealing. The way she filled out her skirts was no coincidence. Her perfume was a little stronger, and her makeup a little more sultry. Jessica even started wearing her hair differently too. And while Harvey noticed the changes in her style, he also saw a shift in her behavior when Scottie was in the room. Jessica stood a little taller, her walk was positively more powerful, almost like she was trying to assert that she was a woman and Scottie was just a girl. The switch of her hips was not a coincidental afterthought.

Harvey then thought back to a conversation he had with Scottie, the night after Tanner's brutal deposition, and a comment she dropped about Jessica. Harvey and Scottie agreed not to talk about the deposition because they had said everything they needed to in his office, but Scottie passively mentioned Jessica warned her how bad Tanner could be, to which Harvey asked _"You talked to Jessica?"_

 _"Yeah, she was kind enough to warn me before the depo, and I feel kind of bad because I was so short with her. She tried to warn me about how crazy depos can get with him. She told me what led you to punching him in the face and what he said that made you snap."_

 _"Oh yeah?"_

 _"Did Tanner really suggest you wanted to bang her, in front of her?"_

 _"She told you that!?" Harvey choked out. He couldn't believe his ears._

 _"Yeah, she seemed kind of proud, like you were protecting her."_

 _Harvey just chuckled, this was getting better and better. The pride Scottie observed in Jessica was not the suggestion of protection. Harvey could just see the look Jessica would have given Scottie…he knew what it was, it was Jessica asserting her Alpha femaleness. This was classic passive aggressive Jessica._

 _"I don't think Jessica likes me very much. I guess I didn't help my case being a little condescending. I was kind of a bitch to her today." As Scottie talked her insecurity out loud, Harvey's face contorted to smugness, but he didn't say very much. He had other ideas why Jessica was being a bitch, and he was very turned on at the thought._

 _"How can you tell?" the small smirk still on his lips at his amusement with the conversation and his last thought. Harvey's ego was swelling by the second._

 _"She just gave me this look you know when she told me what Tanner said to set you off…like I was in over my head."_

 _And then there was also that look in Jessica's eyes. A twinkle of overcompensation and it always seem to come with this coy and sly smirk on her luscious damn lips. He wasn't imagining it …even Scottie had seen it. Harvey busied himself with uncorking the wine in his hand and just filed the comment away in the back of his mind._

He kind of loved the idea of a jealous Jessica It was a little endearing, and very sexy. But Harvey couldn't figure out why?

Was it because she just fought off another threat to her firm with Darby so she was being extra careful?

Was it that she was afraid of someone else taking her place?

Was it that she had to contend with more change?

Was she behaving so territorial because she was threatened by his relationship with Scottie and she was just trying to protect her partner like a lion protecting the heard from an external threat?

Surely, it couldn't be about him, could it?

Harvey decided to have a little fun with Jessica then next time he could get her in a room alone. He was too intrigued to let this go. It was like a cat finally finding the mouse hole and catching a mouse on its way in. His pride swelled a little bit, never feeling this confident around Jessica in their years of knowing one another.

It was late evening at the office on a Friday. The staff had all but dissipated from the main floor of the firm and Harvey knew Jessica would still be plugging away at her desk, it was only ten…it was still early for her.

It had been a hard couple of weeks. Harvey had ended his relationship with Scottie, upon Scottie's request to be released from her non-compete, his cases loads were kicking his ass (even though he never admitted it out loud), and decompressing from things flying at him left, right and center in recent weeks was taking its toll on him. He needed a release and a little fun. He decided to go gets his kicks and play a little bit, hoping Jessica was game.

Harvey made his way to Jessica's office with two tumblers and his decanter of McCallen twenty-something pretentious stopping at her doorway, leaning on the doorframe, with his sleeves rolled up, dress shirt unbuttoned, cool and collected.

"Drink?"

Jessica looked up at him, sweeping her long lashes and batting her eyes unconsciously. Harvey could see the move from far away. Classic.

"What are we drinking to?" That million-watt smile lit up the dimness in her office. Harvey loved having that effect on her.

Harvey strolled in as he offered, "Your newly acquired skills."

"Which would be...? I'm so gifted you have to be more specific." Jessica shuffled her folders and straightened out her desk as she conversed.

"Well there are a few skills that have topped my list as of late." Harvey began pouring the deep amber liquid with all the finesse and swagger of a classic movie star in front of Jessica's desk across from her seated form.

"Oh, there's a list. Can I see it?" Jessica offered humorously, intrigued with the topic of conversation.

"It's all up here." Harvey let a coy smile reach his lips as he pointed to his head. He loved these moments between them. He loved playing in the sandbox with her, when things were light but nonetheless loaded.

"Ahhh…" Jessica played along.

"Which one do you want to toast to first? You have the choice of three." Harvey tipped his glass to her and waited for Jessica to lead the conversation as he knew he would be the one to steer it anyway.

"Let's start with number three." Jessica stood lifted her glass, not quite meeting his tumbler.

"Ok, here's to your gift in being able to tell the future. Bottoms up." Harvey clinked his glass against hers and quickly sipped.

Jessica just watched him for a moment before bringing hers to her lips. She compassionately shook her head, eyes averted to her glass desk, and offered "I'm sorry Harvey, I wish I was wrong with how things turned out with Scottie"

"Don't bullshit a bullshitter Jessica." Harvey's abrupt call-out was not what Jessica expected. She was sure he came in to commiserate and get her perspective or at least some reassurance of normalcy.

"Excuse me?"

"C'mon Jessica…you are not sorry. You " Harvey emphasized, "are anything but." Harvey brought the glass to his lips.

"You think I take joy in seeing you hurt?" She moved from her place and came around her desk

"No, I would never think that. You care about me… of that I am certain." Harvey asserted.

"So what is it that I am enjoying exactly?" Jessica asked as she perched herself beside Harvey's standing form, eyebrow arched in that arrogant elegance. The closer she came that perfume became more intoxicating to Harvey.

"Now this is just my observation, so don't get mad…"

"Oh this should be good." Jessica sarcastically quipped, a little playfulness coming back to her voice as she took a swig of her whiskey.

"I think you are enjoying that Scottie is out of the picture and you don't have to share anymore."

Jessica laughed out loud right in Harvey's face, and he responded with a condescending smirk reflected in his glass.

"Share? Harvey I am not five and this isn't kindergarten. I don't share…I take."

"Well then I guess it was just a matter of time. Good thing Scottie left or we would have had a major violation of section C-151.3 of bi-laws, you know sexual harassment in the workplace…"

"What are you implying exactly? Find your words Harvey" pushing him, challenging him to see if her had the balls to continue the path he was heading down.

"You know exactly what I am implying."

"You think I am jealous?"

"No. Of course not…" Harvey sarcastically agreed "not now…but you were. "

"This is cute Harvey. How about we toast to how cute you are being?"

"My kind of toast." Harvey's boastfulness was kind of endearing, but Jessica would never say it out loud. She instead let a genuine smile tug at her lips of this little game he was playing.

"Here's to my arrogant pain in the ass partner, who's ego is…"

"…painfully adorable…"

"I was going to say exhausting…"

"Not tenacious…"

"Definitely not tenacious. That would imply that ego is a positive element in my day to day, when it in actuality its a pain in my ass and the cause of most of my migraines. Shall we move on to number two on your list?"

"Well we kind of covered number two." Harvey nonchalantly offered, refilling his glass.

"Which was?"

"Here's to how jealousy is actually quite endearing on you. It's sexy." He growled, in such a way as if he was telling Jessica a secret, as he tipped his glass toward her.

"Are you running a play and trying to close me?"

"If I were, and I'm not saying that I am, you wouldn't be questioning it. You would know."

"You are a ridiculous human being, you know that?" Jessica stated dryly, her face losing all humor, annoyed. It caused Harvey to chuckle truly amused. He loved when Jessica's inner bitch came out. The attitude was on point on all facets. "What the hell was I thinking talking to you fifteen years ago in the mailroom? I had no business going down there." Jessica continued, talking out loud more than directly to Harvey as she sipped her drink, reflecting on her last statement.

Harvey continued laughing and said, "Oh please, you were hooked the moment I opened my mouth."

"Objection. Speculative." Jessica looked back to him, her face straight as an arrow.

"Overruled."

"On what grounds?" She challenged.

"The power of my adorability. No judge will ever allow it."

"You're an idiot!" The more Jessica sat with what Harvey implied, and how he had the upper hand in their playful sparing, the more it irked her. "What the _hell_ makes you think I was jealous of you and Scottie!?"

It was kind of fun verbally sparing as it had been a while, but Jessica was worried with the Pandora's box that she just opened asking the question. She instantly regretted it, but it bothered her that Harvey was even able to read that from her…even if it was a little but true. That's what pissed her off most about Harvey's statement.

"There are a couple of factors, but the specifics are not important, They are merely just one man's observations."

"I am not the jealous type." Jessica protested, slightly defensive.

"No? What would you call it?"

"Nothing. Because I have no idea what you are talking about!" When in doubt, deny, deny, deny, especially considering Harvey wasn't offering any evidence. Jessica changed the subject, "What's skill number one on the list?"

Harvey stood directly in front of Jessica's perched form. He let his penetrating gaze fall to her long legs, sweeping slowly from her shoes to her face, lingering at the exact right moments and in the right places.

His baritone voice simply stated, "Your skirt."

Their eyes were locked on one another and Jessica felt a small flip in her tummy.

"That's not a skill." She challenged evenly, her eyes never leaving his stare.

There was a considerable shift in tension in the room.

She refused to give into this. She may have been jealous…slightly…at Harvey's relationship with Scottie, but she would not be rattled by this ambush.

Harvey took the last swig of his whiskey skillfully and placed the glass strategically on Jessica's desk right beside her hip. In turn he took one step closer to her body and offered a response to her challenge, "It is how you wear it…especially lately around me."

"Harvey…" Jessica said in a suggestive and vampy way as she stood to her feet. Harvey couldn't help but note it was similar to the way she would say his name as a fair warning, a chill ran down his spine as she came close to him. This was getting dangerous.

Her chest brushed against his torso ever so slightly, as she strategically leaned in. Her womanly curves filled the negative space between them in charged way. Jessica eyed Harvey's lips, noticing each twitch as she said "Did you think that I was trying to seduce you and steal you away from Scottie because I was _jealous_?"

"Maybe." Harvey swallowed noticeably hard.

"Hmmmm..." The velvetiness of Jessica's voice edging on a seductive note, stirred something in Harvey. "I can assure you if I wanted you, I wouldn't have to result to stealing you. I would just leave you with one thought-provoking question and you could make the decision. You're a big boy."

"Which is?"

"If I move this way _in_ my skirt, imagine how I would move coming _out_ of it?"

Standing so close to Harvey, Jessica could have sworn she felt his breath hitch in his throat at her last query.

"Are you blushing Harvey?" Jessica batted her eyes innocently.

"No." His bravado was gone.

"Good, because as much fun as it has been playing in the sandbox with you…I've got to go. I have date!" Jessica sing-songed as she rounded her desk and grabbed her purse.

"Bull-Shit!" Harvey couldn't believe it.

"Oh it's not bullshit…it's the reason why the skirt has been acting in its own volition. Sorry if you misinterpreted what it was trying to say." Jessica cleverly offered, excited in getting one over on Harvey, yet again.

It definitely put her in a good mood for her date with one Jeff Malone, who she had started to casually see in the last few weeks. Jeff was a great distraction, and an immortal fuck. Clearly the good sex was obvious to those around her. Was she that transparent in that Harvey thought her lighter mood and pep in her step was directed at him? She made mental note, she had to hone it in a bit. Clearly her essences as of late lead to dangerous territory.

Jessica rounded her desk and breezed by Harvey with a flirtatious look as she headed toward the door, those lashes still batting at him as they did when he first walked in.

"Oh and Harvey, stop chasing skirt…focus on your work. It will be good for you! Get your mind of things…" Jessica added insult to injury flashing Harvey that killer smile as she flipped her hair and walked herself to the elevators.

Harvey watched her retreating form, her hips switching in her classic way…the power walk she had mastered. Harvey finished his drink as his eyes stayed glued on the minimal view he had of the back of her at the lobby. Harvey snickered as he saw Jessica make her way into the elevator, off to her "date".

"Minx."

…And then it hit him. He abruptly stopped as he came to the realization, some guy was all up in Jessica's business and a pang hit him as fast a a flash of lightening… He was jealous.

"Goddamn it!"


	2. Wrath

[A/N: Saw the preview of the mid-season finale and this snippet inspired by the chaos coming. This snapshot is based on the craziness of the last couple episodes of Season 5. It has Jessica seeing things in a red rage...watch out! Thanks for all the reads and reviews, it makes my day knowing that my writing can entertain even of a little part of your day. I own nothing. Enjoy!]

 **Wrath**

 _noun_

1\. extreme anger

synonyms: anger, rage, fury, crossness, displeasure, annoyance, irritation

Mike made it into the office bright and early that Wednesday morning. Things lately had been quite eventful at the office and his gut indicated that something was brewing amongst the senior and name partners. He was obviously aware of the tension between Louis, Harvey and the latest cog in the wheel, Jack Soloff.

He knew only what Harvey had let on, but he was also painfully aware that the power plays of late were a civil war that Mike was not entirely sure the firm could survive based on how hard the blows were ramming against the walls of his beloved firm, both from the inside and from external forces namely Daniel Hardman. This, paired with his struggle of all the close calls as of late of being exposed were affecting him enough to feel like his work was slipping. He was so committed to Harvey and Jessica, even when she challenged him at ever turn, that he had to remind himself that all the risk he put himself and those he cared about was for the greater good; for the ability to help people and why he was there at six in the morning. It was about the work, and he could not let that slip not even if he was so very tired of the constant chase.

Pearson Spector Litt's newest Junior Partner decided to get a head start on the day. Mike was so entranced by the pro-bono case he requested from Jessica the day before, above and beyond his already strained capacity, that he missed her passing the expanse of his windows in an enflamed gait, as though her stilettos were starting a fire below her feet.

"WHERE IS HE?!" Jessica's voice bellowed from his doorway.

Mike nearly jumped out of skin, brow furrowed at the energy coming his way.

Jessica was enraged.

He had never seen her in this state, let alone using a raised tone of voice like this at the office. The look on her face was not a joke. She had bark and it looked like she was ready to bite at any moment. Jessica looked like she was ready to skin someone in broad daylight.

"Who?"

"Boy, don't you play games with me." She strode into Mike's office like she was going to come at him, he voice prowling as a threat.

"Ok…Ok…Jessica, I have no idea what you are talking about. Who are you looking for?" Mike got out of his seat with his hands up in protest.

"Are you telling me you don't know?"

"Know what?"

"Harvey! Where is he?" She growled through her teeth.

"I don't know. I saw him yesterday but haven't spoken to him since. Is he ok?"

"If he is, he won't be when I get my hands on him."

"I'm afraid to ask this but…have you tried calling him?" Mike offered gently. He was hoping talking to her would deflect some of her rage.

"For someone who is as bright as you are, you ask some pretty stupid questions."

"Ok, let me try him."

Mike picked up his mobile and watched Jessica take deep breaths as he scrolled through to look for the number. He hoped for his sake that Harvey would pick up.

Jessica looked like steam was coming out of every pore of her body, as though at any moment she would melt into a pool of liquid from her fit of rage. Mike noticed the exercise of control she was trying to practice, her eyes wide in anticipation, her strained breaths against her form fitting black blazer and her power stance of hands on her hips. The phone rang…rang…rang…Mike could feel her penetrating gaze on him as he stared at his desk, trying to avoid her aggressive energy. He was a little scared. What the hell was going on?

After the fourth tone, Harvey picked up.

"Harvey thank god, what the hell is going on!?" Mike's eyes were now on Jessica.

"Listen Mike, I am not sure if all hell broke loose yet but there is something I need to tell you."

"Where are you? I'm coming to you."

"I'm at the gym."

Harvey was deep in a special training session with his trainer. He called in a favor. He was pounding on the body bag since six in the morning, now going an hour straight, hoping that that intense workout would help him work through his anxiety, rage, and disappointment and help him plan his next move, or at least exhaust him to the point where he could forget what he just did.

His meeting with Charles Forstman left him no choice.

It was for the good of the firm. As Jessica always told him, he was the firm. And he did what was best for the firm.

As Harvey's trainer yelled at him various combinations and encouraged him pound a left, a right, a hook, a jab. The sound of his gloves against the bag felt cathartic, the sweat in his eyes didn't even bother him, imagining the faces of his enemies…Forstman, Hardman, Soloff …And then… Harvey stopped dead in his set when he heard her bellow from behind…

"You piece of shit…you abandon me after everything?!"

She set him up and used Mike as the pawn. Typical.

Harvey heaved out of breath, his face reddened by the rush of blood at how hard he was going on the bag. His white t-shirt was drenched in sweat stains down the expanse of his back and torso. The veins on his neck and his arms pulsed hearing Jessica's voice echo through the expanse of the gym. It caused him to close his eyes to regain some control. Harvey counted to three and he realized she was about to come at him like a firestorm and he was so very tired of all the destruction as of late.

Still with his back to her, he queued his trainer to give him a moment. Harvey turned around and looked into her eyes burning with flames so high that they threatened to spark and burn him with every second he didn't offer her a response.

"Jessica I did what I did to save you, and to save the firm!" Harvey's tone was strong but controlled; there was no need to antagonize her further because Jessica looked like she was about to claw at him and drag him as her prized game carcass. She stood in her black pencil skirt, power blazer and black patent stilettos heels. Jessica's pristine, yet aggressive appearance against the roughness of her surroundings was a visual that Harvey quickly had to adjust his eyes too. She looked like she was ready to crack some whips. Harvey had never seen Jessica in this state and he was disarmed with how to navigate these waters of Jessica Pearson.

"Bullshit!" She practically jumped down his throat, her arms crossed in her battle stance.

"What other reason would there be?" Harvey gently shook his head and looked her dead in the eyes, hoping his rational tone would help alleviate some of her wrath. He didn't blame her for her reactions; he knew exactly the nerve he struck with what he did last night and how he did it.

"You make me sick…you throw in the towel like this?!" Jessica slashed at Harvey with her words. Her fangs drew; dripping with venom and trying to catch him to bite down and let him feel her rage, make him understand how betrayed, hurt and disappointed she was with him.

"I DIDN'T THROW SHIT!" Harvey got in Jessica's face, exploding with irate tirade feeling attacked, something he didn't think he deserved especially after he felt like he did right by everyone. "I went round after around with you, and for you, against all those assholes and now it's time to ring the bell! IT'S OVER FOR ME! I quit so you could fight another day! It was the only way Jessica!" Harvey ripped at his gloves with his teeth pulling them off as he turned his back to Jessica and began walking away, ashamed that he fell into a fit of rage at the woman he respected more than anyone in the world. He was now very agitated, paired with exhaustion, it was dangerous combination.

"Don't you walk away from me Harvey!" She threatened and Harvey stopped dead in his tracks. Hearing her say the words felt like he took a knife to the gut and it all came pouring out. He didn't want to walk away not now, not yesterday, not ever.

"There is nothing left to say Jessica, except you're welcome!" He calmly offered, he couldn't do this with her. This is what he was hoping to avoid last night when he went into her office late in the evening to leave his resignation on her desk.

"Boy you better fall back! Are you actually expecting a thank you?" The tone was enough for Harvey to turn around, she was just a few inches away from him, and he could feel her breath on his neck.

"Don't you see what I did?" Harvey's tone came down a few notches, evenly explaining himself, "Forstman is Hardman's backer, he blackmailed me to quit and in return to agreeing to his terms Hardman is cut off, that's it…that simple! He no longer has Forstman's proxy and you live to fight another day. Did you not even read the note I attached to the resignation I left on you desk?"

"It didn't matter because you resigning is not how this works." She reminded him how the game was played, a mere few inches away from him. "I don't care how big the gun is to you head, and how many bullets are locked and loaded! You come to me first! You don't give up!" Jessica's loyalty was unwavering. It still shined through in her fit of rage. Hearing her say the words out loud, the words he so very often quoted to those closest to him, the words that became his philosophy, the words that became his mantra from the woman who taught him by example, even when he lost his way numerous times, it was enough to make Harvey feel like he could drop to his knees.

"Jessica, don't…don't…" he pleaded with his eyes to the floor "It's killing me to have to walk away."

"It's killing you..." She mocked. "What about me?" This was the first statement out of her that wasn't followed by fire on her breath. Harvey's eyes found their way to Jessica's stare, hearing the shift in tone he was much more accustomed to, as though her control was coming back.

"A piece of me died writing that letter to you last night and I am sorry how I did it, but I am not sorry that I was able to save you and the firm. This all started because of me! Me hitting Louis made you vulnerable, Soloff wouldn't have come after me and you if it weren't for me, Hardman wouldn't have a leg to stand on if…"

"Jack called a partner's meeting for Friday. He is calling for vote to oust me from my seat as Managing Partner." Jessica interrupted Harvey's little rant.

Harvey punched the nearest body bag with all his strength "Mother Fucker! That piece of filth!" and Jessica caught it on the swing back. Harvey paced the mats, hands on his head in the sheer frustration. He was sure he took care of all the tentacles of this beast of evil plan set in motion by Forstman, Hardman and consequently Soloff.

"Harvey I am being attacked from the outside and now from the inside. I need you! You can't leave me, I can't do this without you!" Jessica's words were another set of daggers that hit Harvey on target, except these weren't lethal like the ones before, these hit his heart and he was sure from all the wounds he was taking as of late he was dying by a death of a thousand cuts. He was bleeding out and especially hearing those words from Jessica.

Harvey wiped at his face with t-shirt, overwhelmed hoping the action would help him shed his frustration. "Jessica I can't help you without giving that piece of shit the ammunition to do further damage to you and our people. I wouldn't be able to live with myself." Harvey offered, "If Hardman has money then this gets a thousand times worse!"

"Since when did you become such a gallant knight?" Jessica shot at Harvey and what she felt was Harvey giving in to the bullshit of the last few months. Her goal was always to get Harvey to get in touch with his emotions to humble him and to tap into the strength to care, not this…She realized she needed to reign him in, only this time help him lift his shield against the world.

"Excuse me?" Harvey asked for clarification, his face contorted to the cruelness of her words after he just explained he made his decision unselfishly, truly hurt she would go there with easy sarcasm and bitchiness.

"Harvey this is a war!" Jessica shoved him slightly from his place, trying to shake him out of his rut. "Blood is spilling…My Blood!" Jessica was impassioned, with every step she took, Harvey took one back. "Are you telling me you are going to watch me bleed to death on the battlefield?" Her eyes narrowing like a predatory cat, zeroing on her prey.

Harvey stopped in his tracks and came toe-to-toe with Jessica.

"No! That is not what I am saying. What I am saying is I don't want it to get to that, that's why I made the decision I made. Once Hardman has money in his hands, this gets brutal. This way you have a chance to make it to the other side Jessica."

"Even without money Soloff will bring in Hardman in, this isn't over. Louis figured out that Hardman has something on Soloff. And with one vote less on my side of the table, I am as good as out. I know I have a guaranteed 30% in my pocket, Louis can get me two more partners and with your vote I have a good chance of a split vote, which means the motion won't carry. So you quitting is all in vain."

She calmly explained he rationale but it was nonetheless predatory. Her eyes penetrated Harvey's hoping it would light a fire within him as she reasoned. She knew she had a way with him, and that she held a special place within him, so much so that he felt like he had to protect her evidenced by his unselfish resignation. She then finished with her closing argument and hoped it would do what she needed it to.

"Let Forstman come at us. You beat him once. You will beat him again. And leave Daniel to me. I will drag him all the way through the river Styx and drown him in the waters of the underworld before I EVER lie down for that man and take it! So let them come! We will open the door together and peel them ALL off the walls when we are done with them."

Harvey swallowed hard and let a cocky smirk reach his face once the words sunk in, his eyes now a version of what she had always recognized as an arrogant twinkle.

Jessica mirrored the look on Harvey's face, lips red, glossy and dangerous.

"I don't know about you, but are you as turned on as I am at this moment?" Harvey quipped but wasn't completely lying in the humor of his words.

"Get your shit! We regroup in my office in one hour." Jessica was back to business. She started to make her way to the doors, swaying her hips in victory, back to her town car waiting for her.

"Nothing….not even a little?" Harvey humorously called out.

Mid stride Jessica turned and flirtatiously offered, "Nothing turns me on more than the taste of blood. We beat that asshole Soloff on Friday and I'll be sure to tell you a little secret…" and with a quick wink and she was out the doors.

"I need a cold shower." Harvey said to himself as he gathered his bags off the bench. He was crazy about this woman. There was nothing he wouldn't do for her. He was ready, geared up for battle. She led by example and he was willing to go through the trenches with her one more time. If they went out, they would go out swinging.

Jessica's detest and hate for Hardman in its purest form was what almost trapped her and Harvey. It almost caused them to self-destruct under the closing walls. She had an uncontrollable feeling of hatred and anger toward Daniel and anyone who served his agenda. She was ready to make this all out brawl and needed her best right hook Harvey to do it.

Hardman, Soloff and Forstman didn't stand a chance.


	3. Gluttony

[A/N: This chapter Gluttony was a tougher one for me to write, it's a little more fluffy, but a fun take for Harvey and Jessica. It takes place Season 4, some few months after the Jeff/Jessica break-up. Sorry for the delayed posting. It's been absolute chaos to sit down and string some words together lately and writers block is also not so fun. Reads and Reviews are so appreciated and I love hearing from those who enjoyed the posting. Warning: Mild language and sexual innuendo. I own nothing… Enjoy! More to come, promise.]

glut·ton·y

noun

 **1:** excess in eating or drinking

 **2:** greedy or excessive indulgence

(¯`·._.·(¯`·._.· The Seven Sins- Gluttony ·._.·´¯)·._.·´¯)

She was a feisty little thing.

Harvey flirtatiously laughed at the first tumble when his back hit the wall of the hallway. Just as his lips latched to the woman attempting to already undress him from his flawlessly tailored Tom Ford suit he concluded privacy was the least of her concern.

Harvey and his guest for the evening stumbled around in his hallway up against walls, playfully nibbling, shoving and pawing one another in an attempt to find the door to his condo in their slightly inebriated stupor. She was cute cocktail waitress, exactly what Harvey needed to take the edge off his last few brutal weeks where all his problems were piling up to the point where he just needed to let off some steam. The girl was about five-five with long and bouncy black waves of hair, luscious lips, and olive toned glowing skin. She could have been the model type if she was just a little taller.

The indulgence of the familiarity was so ingrained within him he knew exactly how this night was going to play out; he would bang her, offer a drink, and then call her a cab when they were through, just a typical Friday night – a play so familiar he could have even pegged the time he would be calling down for a cab. It was a play that had quickly become habit when he wasn't involved, a simple gluttonous play for some human contact to take the edge off his solemnness.

In his distracted state Harvey managed to unlock his door, snaking an arm expertly behind his guest who was now pushed up against his door kissing his jaw and moving towards his hot spot, just under and behind the flesh of his ear. Harvey let out a groan, a guttural indulgence of satisfaction.

As they entered his condo Harvey instinctually kicked the door closed from behind him, all knowing in the place to hook his foot and continue his ministrations in the dimly lit condo. They continued their hot make out session, dropping the articles of clothing on the floor as they came off- a leather jacket, a clutch, Harvey's belt, a suit jacket. Just as his lady friend lifted her arms as a signal to take her top over her head with his lips still attached to hers, Harvey noticed something strange in his peripheral vision in his dimly lit apartment.

Jessica.

Harvey's lips immediately stopped moving against his guest's lips, staring back at Jessica like he had just been caught doing something very, very bad.

This was by far the strangest moment of his life.

Harvey's eyes locked with a statuesque Jessica standing in his kitchen, barefoot, draped in an apron and cooking, eyes wide in shell shock; a complete deer in headlights. Harvey's lady friend noticed how he had stiffened in their exchange, and not in the way she may had hoped. She broke away from his face and stared at him quizzically.

The moment came to a dead halt.

The girl followed Harvey's gaze and was shocked to see another woman staring back at her with a blank stare and her hands on her hips. Little did the girl know that Jessica's stare was in complete mortification and uneasiness of what to do next, as if standing like a statue may somehow undue this strange and awkward moment.

Harvey just stared a hole through Jessica in complete disbelief that this was happening. Jessica's nerves felt like they had lit up from within her, and she quickly had to think of a way to get out of this. She was sure that at this point in their stare down the rush of blood to her cheeks was a dead giveaway of her embarrassment; Harvey was not going to let Jessica live this one down.

"Oh my god! You're married?!" The girl shrieked.

"This isn't what it looks like…" Harvey quickly offered, his eyes slightly panicked as he looked from one woman to the other.

Always thinking on her feet, suddenly Jessica had an idea.

"Harvey, who the hell is this!?" Jessica snarled.

"Jessica…?" Harvey let out a warning. The way he said her name dripped with an implied question of the game she was playing, with an edge of warning. His deep baritone voice doing its best to be intimidating, especially considering he was in his own home, but it just added fuel to Jessica's plan of action.

"You bring another woman into _our_ home…" Jessica played off his tone, narrowing her eyes taking a few short steps toward Harvey and his lady friend in a very predatory way playing the scorned wife. She remembered a high profile A-list movie star client once told her the key to a brilliant performance was committing to the moment and going with whatever information was presented in the moment. Jessica just went with it. As Jessica approached, undoing the ties of the apron as though she was about to make a move, the girl started backing away from Harvey and his apparent approaching 'wife'.

"I, I…I should go…" the girl stumbled on her words and her feet, wanting to get the hell out of there as a fast as her feet could carry her, even tripping from underneath them in the process.

"I think that would be wise." Jessica said in an even and low tone. It was calm yet frightening at the same time.

Jessica's stare at Harvey gave every indication like she was about to kill him. As the girl gathered her belongings down the corridor of Harvey's pad she offered in her frazzled state, "I'm so, so, so sorry, I had no idea…"

"I'm sure you didn't…" Jessica's back was now turned to Harvey as she followed the girl to the door, scaring the living daylights out of her. Harvey ran a hand through his hair in frustration and let out a big sigh, there was no point in salvaging his plans for the evening. What was he going to do, throw Jessica out for a nightly piece and embarrass Jessica in her concocted lie? He just reached for the tumbler on the countertop, filled with the ruminants of scotch Jessica savored evidenced by the red lipstick mark, and threw it back in agitation.

If this situation didn't hinder him getting sex, he would have laughed out loud at how ridiculous it was. He just let it play out – at least Jessica did the hard part. The girl was gone.

This was definitely not in his playbook on how to dismiss a nightly guest. As Jessica slammed the door, she whipped around back to Harvey, her hand still on his door, with a grin as wide and mischievous as a Cheshire cat who found the bowl of crème in the corner. She was proud of her work, Harvey observed in complete flat annoyance.

"That was fun!"

"Jessica, what the hell was that?" Harvey watched her come back down his entrance corridor, a little bit of pep in her step and sway in her hips.

"I told you I was a good actress." She batted her eyelashes as she passed him and playfully tugged on his now disheveled tie and turned the corner to finish preparing her mini-feast. She was a little staggered that he allowed her to play her little game, choosing her over his little piece for the night.

Harvey ran his hands down his face and asked "Why are you here…again…in my home…cooking…without my permission?" his frustration with her not completely dissipated, he wanted to grill her a little bit, not letting her off the hook so easily. His annoyance was still dripping of his expression, if his words didn't do the trick.

"Because I know you had a tough week and I wanted to do something nice for you." Jessica responded reaching in the oven and puling out the bubbling cannelloni, the hearty smell filling the kitchen. "Sue me."

"You know I could, for braking and entering or at the very least press criminal charges." He followed her and started to pull out the cutlery and fabric napkins from a drawer, making his way to set the dining room table for the two of them, which was already occupied with various antipasto, appetizers and a decadent salad she had already prepared. This was way too much food for two people. Something was up.

"I didn't. I used a key." She answered honestly, none the less flippant, dismissing his frustration by prepping the plates, dressing them like a master chef.

"Ok smartass, then for stalking." Harvey said as he picked at bowl of salad.

"Oh please – I'll tell you exactly how that trial would go. You would make your opening arguments, the judge would take one look at me, think you're a pussy for pressing charges when I look like this, cook for you, and take your shit all day. I win. You lose. No jury in the land would convict me. Stop picking at the food!" She scolded as she watched Harvey pop an artichoke in his mouth.

An exasperated look crossed Harvey and he then said, "In all seriousness, I had a feeling something like this would happen one day. The odds of it not happening until just now are mind blowing considering how often you break into my apartment. What is this like the tenth time?"

"Are you done with your pity party?"

"No! You totally cock-blocked me! I was going to get laid."

"You'll survive you man-whore. You must be hungry because you're whiny." Jessica flatly observed as she continued her prepping of the plates, ever the perfectionist.

"No, I was in the mood to sample something else before you so rudely kicked her out."

Jessica stopped grating a few slivers of cheese as she looked at Harvey incredulously, challenging him. "Is this your subtle way of telling me you still want me to leave since you are continuing to throw your tantrum?"

"That depends."

"On what?"

"Do I get spousal privileges tonight…with you?" Harvey let a sly smile cross his lips and cocked and eyebrow playfully from across the room.

Jessica snickered and mocked, "After I caught you with another woman? Oh I don't think so." She pointed the knife in her hand at Harvey as he approached back to the kitchen island and waved it around as she finished "You're lucky I'm not on my way down to your garage to cut your break lines."

"Jessica Pearson!" Harvey's eyes bulged at her implication, not entirely prepared for that response.

That was the thing with Jessica; she was so quick you never know what was going to come out of her mouth. Harvey snickered as he scratched the back of his neck, not sure how to respond.

"Go sit down." She demanded with a flick of her head.

"I'm a little scared of you right now."

"No you're not. My guess is you're turned on."

Harvey scoffed as he pulled the chair out for himself at the head of the table. As Jessica approached with two plates, Harvey cocked an eyebrow and asked, "Would you really?" still not completely sure if she was jesting or if she was serious.

"Would I what?" Jessica batted her eyelashes as she placed the two plates down at the two set spots on the table.

"Cut break lines…" Harvey implied with a cute curiosity as he pulled out the chair for her.

"What do you think?" Jessica laid the napkin in her lap like a lady and crossed her long fingers to rest her chin on her hands, elbows on the table, an indication on how comfortable she felt around Harvey.

As Harvey approached his mini bar for a bottle of wine "I want to say no…but something tells me not to put it past you." Harvey uncorked the bottle expertly and began to pour the deep red liquid in Jessica's glass, an Italian Chianti perfect for the rich aroma's she had just prepared.

"I haven't cut break lines." Jessica looked up at him, Harvey's eyes briefly scanned her beautiful face and they began to pour his own glass. He sat down at the head of the table, and there was something in her tone when she continued, "But I did total Quentin's vintage 59 Jaguar roadster. It was his prized possession." A naughty smirk crossed her glossy lips as she continued. "I sideswiped it to the point of no repair. Oops." She brought the Chianti to her lips and watched Harvey's face contort in shock, disbelief and amusement.

"No way! You didn't?! Do you know how rare a car that is?"

Jessica nodded her response in mock pride.

"What did he do?" He said through his small laugh.

She didn't look at Harvey when she revealed the next part of her story, afraid she would show him too much but she knew she had to give him enough context so he wouldn't think she was crazy. She tried to avoid his gaze as she stared into her glass as she spun the liquid aerating it in the process.

"There was a time in our marriage where all we did was fight. He had a little bit of a cruel streak in him at times, something I learned once the ring was on."

Harvey watched her eyebrow furrow a little bit at the memory, which caused him to swallow hard at what she may have been alluding to, a strange responsive need to protect her even from her past bubbled up within Harvey. He took a swig of his wine to help him control the urge to interrupt and ask her what she meant. He could listen to her tell stories all day. Little did Jessica know that she could have Harvey wrapped around her little finger with just her words.

"When we would fight, Quentin could go silent for days, even weeks, with me, and when he finally decided to start talking to me again, some of the things he would say…anyways, its not important."

Jessica took a sip of her wine, afraid she may have revealed too much through the curtain of her past. She cleared her throat and jovially continued to bring back the amusement in her antidote. "One day he went to far. So, a few days later I casually told him I was taking the car for a work retreat upstate. I decided to not use my words, rather paint a picture with the car. I told him someone sided swiped the car when it was parked at the hotel and there was no surveillance footage."

She looked to Harvey, wide eyed in mock innocence and he smiled at her, knowing what she was trying to imply. "Eat before it gets cold." Jessica instructed, as she picked up her own cutlery.

Upon their first bites, they ate in silence. Harvey just watched her, as he brought the food to his mouth savoring the richness of flavors, every layer of the home cooked Italian dish. It always baffled him how a woman like Jessica was such a force of nature by day at the office and so traditional in so many ways behind the closed doors in private. He always loved these moments between them when he peeled a layer and managed to see another piece of her. It made him greedy to see more of her, have more of her; indulge in her essence. After a beat he asked, "What really happened?"

She swallowed and wiped her lips and confessed, "It was more like a sharp turn around a brick wall."

"Show and tell. I like it."

"Something like that." Her dry delivery caused him to chuckle as he said, "You are such a broad!"

"I'd like to think of myself more as a lady than a broad per se." She feigned some mock protest.

"You may dress like one, and carry yourself like one but you my dear are anything but. You, Jessica Pearson are the Katherine Hepburn/Joan Crawford type. Trust me on this. You are force of nature."

"I'll take that."

"I love when you tell me antidotes. I could listen to them all day." Harvey revealed just enough to get that coy smile from his favorite person in the world. Jessica felt a warmth spread in her body with the way he looked at her, she always knew when Harvey's genuine feelings came to the surface and when he was forthcoming without wanting anything in return.

"So I take it you've forgotten about your little friend?" Jessica poked to see if she really had Harvey's full attention for the night.

"Who?" Harvey's brow furrowed in mock recollection. Jessica let an all-knowing smile cross her lips. Maybe Harvey wasn't such a 'shitty actor' as she jested a few week prior; definitely not a tour-de-force performance, but it was passable.

"This is really good by the way."

"Don't eat too much. I still have desert waiting."

Harvey cocked an eyebrow at her and was about to have some smarmy comment, when Jessica cut him off with "Get your mind out of the gutter, it's actually food."

"I like the gutter. It's where I am comfortable. Besides I'm sure I couldn't eat another bite, I'm already stuffed but I can't stop eating."

"Not even from your favorite bakery in Little Italy?"

"You're the devil…"Jessica laughed out loud at how well timed and dry his delivery came out in disbelief and shell shock. The look on his face was pricelessly hysterical.

"I can't temp you with just one bite of that vanilla infused crispy pastry and creamy filling whipped as light as a cloud, topped with the shards of heaven of semi-sweet chocolate? Not even just one…small …tiny…bite?" Her voice dropped a few octaves and slowed to the pace of honey dripping from her lips to her chords, using food and her words to suggestively play with him.

"You're evil. How did you know?" Jessica took a sip of her deliciously decadent wine and let a deep chuckle vibrate at him flustered Harvey sounded, yet intrigued at how well she knew him.

"I overheard an argument you had years ago about the Cannoli at Café Palermo with Donna. The random tidbit stuck, no big deal. They looked delicious when I picked them up this evening. Are you sure you don't want desert?"

"The problem is I can't just have one. I will eat them all in one sitting. I have no boundaries. When it comes to Cannoli, I'm like the fat kid who loves cake."

Jessica continued her laughing fit, just the thought of Harvey the perfectionist and control freak losing it for a box full of carbs. It was almost too easy. Why hadn't she tried this tactic before? Harvey's eyes narrowed, Jessica was having too much fun at his expense. "Why are you being so nice to me? You want something, I can smell it."

"Harvey, we're friends, can't I do something nice for my friend?"

"Not when it's at ten o'clock at night, on a Friday, after the shit-show of a week we both had and you go out of your way downtown to pick up pastries? You would normally send out for that, yet you went yourself...Why?" His investigating line of questioning was sharp and logical as though he had Jessica under oath, yet his witty delivery allowed Jessica the opening to continue to play in his sandbox.

"No reason." She shrugged nonchalantly.

"You need something. Spit it out. Who do you want me to fire? Or court on your side?"

"I can do my own wet work, thank you very much." She mocked offense.

"It didn't stop you before from asking me." Harvey kept pressing. He could feel she was going to reveal her agenda any second. He had a way with her.

"That was different."

"How so?"

"I wanted to see the limits you would go for me for my own personal amusement." Jessica brought her wine glass to her lips triumphantly as a sinful grin spread across her lips, when Harvey's face fell into an annoyed glare. She couldn't get enough of getting one over Harvey, it was the small pleasure she waited for when they spared. It always made her feel good.

"Pearson, you are a pain in my ass." Harvey dryly said as he rubbed his tired face with both hands, still thoroughly enjoying his company that evening.

.

"How does it feel?" Jessica asked, re-filling their glasses with Chianti.

"Come again?"

"That pain in your ass? How does it feel? Now you know how I feel everyday when you walk into my office." She giggled at the puppy-dog eyes Harvey gave her at he last joke.

"Oh come on, don't look at me like that Harvey."

"Indulge me then, what do you want from me?"

"Ok fine, what are you doing next Thursday?"

"Why?" Harvey eyed her skeptically.

"I need a date to a gala and I was supposed to take Jeff, and now I have an extra ticket and I know its short notice but I have been avoiding…" She sped through her delivery, hoping it would make it less embarrassing.

"I'm free." Harvey interjected with a flattered smile, trying to alleviate her sensed embarrassment.

"Oh, ok…well good." Jessica took a big gulp of wine, clearly relieved.

"THAT's what this Roman feast was all about?" Harvey leaned back on his chair, turning his body to directly face Jessica, an arm leaning on the backrest. A smug look of satisfaction and amusement of how simple of an agenda she had, yet she went way out her way. His eyes stared a hole through her, clearly making Jessica slightly uncomfortable. It was his turn to have some fun with her.

"Harvey don't …" She warned when she saw the look of pure amusement on his face and the jovial tone of voice, all knowing he was going to poke around for an explanation.

"I'm not going to give you a hard time, I just want to know why you jumped through so many hoops and why you wouldn't just ask me? We've done functions together before, no big deal." Harvey shrugged and kept eye contact as long as he could, until Jessica's eyes went to something more interesting on the plate of appetizers. She picked up an olive and popped it into her mouth, avoiding his gaze like teenager at her locker being asked to a school dance. "There's more, isn't there? Jessica…" Harvey prodded.

"Jeff is going to be there…with his new girlfriend." Her voice was meek and dry. Now it all made sense where the embarrassment was coming from. Harvey let out a sigh he was holding on Jessica's behalf. He instantly saw how tense she became.

"Oh shit. How do you know?"

Jessica played with the rim of her wine glass as she explained, her eyes were now back on Harvey, "Turns out he's now dating my sister's colleague who is the Director of Menswear at Barneys. She sits the office across from Leah. Leah ran into Jeff when he came to have lunch with his girlfriend at her office. Anyway, I donate to the museum so I should go, and I'm pretty sure he knows I'll be there since we talked about it way back when, and if he sees Leah and not me, it will look like I'm running scared to face him, which I am not, for the record, I'm over it…him. But I'd just prefer not to do it alone."

"Say no more." Harvey reassured Jessica. "I already have a plan." Harvey asserted in his best closer tone, cool, confident and in control like Jessica had nothing to worry about as he took a large gulp of wine from his glass.

"Can't wait to hear this…"The lightness coming back to Jessica's delivery, her eyebrows netted in the pull of sarcasm dripping from her lips, knowing Harvey's punch line was coming.

"We'll make out in front of him, piss him right the hell off, just don't mess up my hair." Jessica burst out laughing as Harvey continued his immature solution to the problem, "Or I can hit on his girlfriend. Ladies choice." The bubble of her laugh was a release she didn't know she needed.

"What, too much?" Harvey asked over her laugh coolly, trying to be serious until he couldn't hold it together and laughed at her more than anything. Her laugh was infectious and it always made him lose it too. Harvey always had an avidity to get Jessica going.

"Thank you for making a joke."

"You're welcome" Harvey offered, enjoying himself to no end of how his evening turned out, "Now in all seriousness…where's the Cannoli?" Harvey looked around his condo, like he couldn't keep it together any longer with the thought of the pastry so close yet so far.

Jessica rolled her eyes as she bit back a smile at Harvey's playfully demanding request, "Calm down, its coming!" She stood and glided to kitchen, all knowing in the fact that Harvey watched her from behind.

Jessica knew the key to man's heart was through food, and sometimes…just sometimes it was through breaking and entering. Harvey just couldn't get enough and she knew it.

The End.


	4. Pride

[ **A/N:** I know it been a hot minute since my last update but what can I say drama, drama, drama… I was finally able to jump back into the creative process for the fourth sin on the list, Pride. Thanks for sticking around and giving this next chapter a read…its extra long to make up for the lack of updates. Fair warning it's a rough ride and explores Harvey and Jessica's darker attributes but it makes for scandalous chapter, which was really fun to write. There are three more chapters coming promise! I own nothing, just like to play in the sandbox. Feedback is always enjoyed and very much appreciated! Enjoy!

 **Summary:** This chapter is not tied to any story line on the actual show. It is a complete conjecture of an alternative universe after season 4. Here's what you need to know, Jessica and Harvey take a chance and are in a relationship but it ultimately leads to a very permanent rift at the firm, leaving the team and hearts divided when a major secret comes out. The past always has a way of catching up when secrets are involved.]

 **Pride**

noun

 **1**. A feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.

2\. A high or inordinate opinion of one's own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc.

 **(¯`·._.·(¯`·._.· The Seven Sins- Pride ·._.·´¯)·._.·´¯)**

 _The blackest day had finally come._

 _Jessica never thought she would ever see it become her reality. It almost happened once, but they persevered and move past it…once._

 _But Harvey had done it again. Only this time, when he had made this move, he was gone…for good._

Harvey had been many things to Jessica over the years; a pawn, a knight, a rook, second in command, and eventually her king. It was this last rise in the ranks that made the betrayal that much harder to swallow, to accept and reconcile. He had broken her heart and now he was gunning for a _checkmate._

Harvey shifted the pieces of the chessboard in such a way that he no longer protected his queen. It only took him eleven months to turn the army against his former queen and come after the kingdom in his rage and revenge, justified in his sense of betrayal by the woman he thought was the love of his life. Pride and hurt were a powerful combination.

Jessica had learned over the years that in their business, anything could happen. They were lawyers. They weren't in the honor business.

But this…this wasn't business. It was personal, right down to the crux of it.

Harvey had tied strings to her heart and wove the possibility of forever through the ties. It seemed to Jessica that these ties would last the ages. But in their last exchange it turned out that those strings were tied to boulders and Harvey decided to throw all of it overboard, sinking what they had into the dark waters leaving Jessica behind to tread in the aftermath.

But she would never show the world what Harvey's decision that night did to her when the unthinkable happened, when he walked out on their firm, their relationship and their life.

She had too much pride for that to ever happen. Instead it woke the beast within her for one more showdown, one more fight for her life.

This particular morning didn't begin like any other morning when she stepped off the elevators to her kingdom. Today, she took pause and actually examined the names fastened on the reception wall. The wall that once read, _Pearson Specter Litt_ , today read _Pearson Litt & Associates_.

It was the first time she allowed herself to look at the crest on the wall as she came off the elevators, eleven months later. The office still bustled as it did almost a year ago when all was as it should have been, when Harvey was still by her side. But today, her firm was at war.

To the outside world the siege was led by former name partner who had some egotistical axe to grind with his former firm, but to Jessica the siege was lead by the man she believed was the love of her life and destroyer of all she once held close to her chest. She knew Harvey was set out to destroy her reputation, besmirch her name off the wall in shame, and in turn overthrow her from her position of power. Those who stayed were now fighting a war that was unlike anything of the past, unbeknownst of the undercurrents of how deep these waters flowed.

Today was the day Harvey would put Jessica on the stand and attempt to shred her for his own personal amusement and exactitude for revenge. She knew him well enough to know in a veil of hurt and in a fog of perceived betrayal he was capable of anything because pride was a very powerful weapon to have in one's arsenal, especially when you were Harvey Spector. He always did say, when someone twisted a knife he always felt the need to twist one right back. It's just who he was.

Today they would square off on enemy lines in the courtroom, across the aisle. Jessica was bound for court as the named defendant in a suit called by Tony Giannopoulos against her firm for tortious interference in a business deal. Jessica was being sued by her firm's former client; a client who was once represented by her ace Harvey Spector in this particular deal in question. In their field, this was just an occupational hazard, it wasn't ideal because it could hurt the firm but it wasn't grounds for criminal prosecution.

But there was more to the story, there always was. And today, it would become public record.

It was no coincidence that Harvey would again represent Giannopoulos. This was a war.

Jessica swallowed hard and set a determined course to her office. Knowing what awaited her later in the day, coming face to face with Harvey after that fateful night when it all came crashing down at warp speed, she fastened another piece of amour to her body knowing the fight she'd be in for later that day. Her shoulders squared, her head lifted, and her feet moved but her head was not yet on straight. Her head was heavy with a dull ache thinking back through whirlwind of events, which would now became part of some official record, which was absurd in its exactitude for someone who was as private as she was.

When she reached the comfort of her desk chair, she recognized her own anxiety of coming face to face with Harvey almost a year later in court. Until today, she had not run into Harvey. Jessica had not volunteered any effort to seek out how he had been, what he was doing, who he may have been seeing, and how his new firm was shaping up. As far as Jessica was concerned, he didn't exist to her any longer. It was just easier that way.

Harvey made no attempts to communicate with Jessica either, nor did he make himself present at any depositions pre-trial. He instead sent his associates, Mike and Rachel, to fluff through their conjecture for Harvey's amusement. Harvey set up shop with a hand-full of PSL's senior partners and associates the night he walked out on their life. He even had the balls to take clients, because he could.

But Louis remained loyal to his beloved firm and leader, even trying to warn Jessica in the moments when it all came crashing down, selling out his 'best friend' Harvey by blowing up Jessica's phone in an attempt to warn her of the imminent attack. That night, eleven months ago, was chaos for all involved drawing lines in the sand and forever changing the face of the firm.

Louis knew how raw this all was for Jessica and did everything he could to keep the records sealed to protect her honor, but it didn't change the fact that the firm was under siege to destroy its reputation and Managing Partner. In Louis' eyes, Harvey had done enough damage to Jessica and his beloved firm. Enough was enough. Louis was unstoppable in the last few months doing damage control, becoming Jessica's confidant and of course her attorney in all of this mess. He even managed to turn one of the clients Harvey had attempted to take with him and retain them back to the firm.

Louis had his theories why "the son of god" or "a bitch" (those two were interchangeable for Louis) had not graced them with his presence in any depositions. But Jessica saw right through Harvey's moves. Harvey wanted to rattle her on the stand the day of, when it counted for something, when he could paint her in the colour he deemed appropriate to sooth his pride and ego. She figured it would go something along the lines of _a shady man-eating whore who had no ethical boundaries and played men to her advantage to make a buck_. A woman in her position was usually gossiped about in such terms, but to hear it in open court would be another story. Jessica knew no settlement to Harvey was worth the price of humiliating her in open court, especially under these circumstances, even if the amount of money was coming out of her arsenal and he could financially cripple her.

Jessica thought back to that frigid November night when Harvey made his final move at 9:17pm on a Wednesday. She could still recall the slow and determined beat of his wingtips against the marble floors of their home.

He didn't even take his shoes off.

Jessica recognized now in retrospect Harvey was never ready to work things out. He was ready to walkout on her, a fact that made their demise that much more devastating.

She remembered how with each step her insides rose and fell in anticipation as she locked eyes with her lover, her partner, her man as he entered their lavish sitting room. The look in his eyes was not the warm orbs that once shined at her. Instead, a look she had only seen before reserved for his enemies, black in its set determination to target and destroy.

She recognized it instantly.

In those short seconds she didn't think the look was directed at her as she looked up from her phone as she silenced the ringer. It was just Louis calling, she would call him back. The moment she laid eyes on Harvey, her primary concern was to comfort him and talk through whatever it was that had him so wound up.

 _"_ _Hey baby! You're later than I expected. Are you hungry?" Jessica smiled softly at him, gauging his mood._

 _"_ _No." Harvey deadpanned from the entry to the sitting room, eyes steadfast and cold._

 _Jessica's brow furrowed, concerned at this stage as she offered, "Are you ok?"_

 _"_ _No."_

 _"_ _Want to talk about?" She stood from the sofa, and a suggestive fleck of seduction crossed her lips as she began to make her way toward Harvey clad in a three-piece charcoal suit, her favorite. He looked so sexy in the dimly lit room, the glow of the fire casting a moody aura. She placed her hands on his lapels and ran them down the length of the fabric as she continued her thought, "Or do you just want to get your mind off it?"_

 _Usually when Harvey had these shifts in his mood, at little scotch and sex usually cured whatever was ailing him._

 _But when Harvey abruptly grabbed her wrists and halted her movements, aggressively removing her hands, Jessica's shield went up instantly. She knew she was in for a fight with him that evening. Her mind started shifting through what could possibility have him riled up._

 _Harvey took one step back and initiated a silent stare-down, declaring war._

 _"Harvey…" Jessica prodded, as he walked around her form, straight to the elaborate bar in their sitting room corner. Harvey fumbled with the bottles, looking for his particular poison of pricy scotch._

 _"_ _I signed a new client today." He dryly offered as he admired the bottle in his hand, purposely not looking in Jessica's direction. Jessica stood her ground, not moving from where he left her, her eyes the only part of her body that shifted through her blind spot to watch him as he made strategic small talk. She knew whatever he was baiting her with would eventually come out as Harvey was never one to be particularly good at passive aggressive. It always came out._

 _"_ _That's great but you don't seem too happy about it." Jessica dryly replied, crossing her arms in a defensive fashion. Her black silk dressing robe gracefully followed her movements._

 _"_ _I'm not."_

 _Harvey poured the liquid in his tumbler and fastened the topper as he watched Jessica turn to now face him. He placed the bottle back with some force, clanking the heavy glass in the process and rattling the bottles._

 _"_ _I don't understand." The calmness in Jessica's voice was annoying to Harvey, as it always was in situations when they squared off._

 _He took a sizeable swig of the amber liquid and let it burn a bit. He needed some fuel if he was going to do this because it was killing him to know of the destruction he was about do, like a sledge hammer to foundation of their relationship. But he felt it necessary._

 _"_ _Do you remember the one thing I asked of you that night? The night, upon your instance I might add, we laid out the terms of moving forward with this relationship?" Harvey placed his palms against the marble bar predatorily and watched Jessica intently as though she was a gazelle on the open Sahara. Jessica looked over her shoulder feeling the glare on her back, slowly turning her body square to observe the threat of his attack._

 _"_ _Of course." She calmly offered again. No sudden movements until she knew exactly what she was facing._

 _"_ _Do not deceive me." Harvey repeated his words from their first night together where it all changed and shifted forever._

 _Jessica watched him in silence thinking back to that night on her terrace, hearing those words again. They had come together on the rooftop of her expansive penthouse terrace overlooking the city, caught up in a moment that was uniquely their own. The fire was blazing in the outdoor pit, the champagne was flowing, and all the caution they gripped onto for year was swept up by the summer's breeze, fifty floors above their kingdom of Manhattan. The king and queen reigned in the reality of their deepest fantasies._

 _It was random. It was on a high of a major celebration. It was bold. It was sexy as hell, it was them... but it was never supposed to happen._

 _They had both made every excuse in the book over the years, believing that if they came together the world as they knew it would cease to exist._ _But when it happened, everything seemed to have fallen into the right._

 _Everything became clearer, more vivid, and more electric. They both knew there was no going back now. This was it for both of them. There was a shift in both of them finally admitting the torch they carried for one another over the years. It was no longer painful to admit it because they had freed one another from the burden of the secret, from the denial, from the alternate reality, which was ironically their reality for over twenty years. They were finally free to be and they laid it all on the line. For close to a year they had become inseparable, moving in within weeks of that night and becoming a couple in every sense of the word. They had waited over twenty years for one another so there was no sense in taking things slow, the process up until that night was slow enough. The one thing they didn't rush was marriage, but it was on the table it was just a matter of time._

 _Jessica swallowed hard preparing herself, interrupting her memory of that blissful night. "Harvey, I feel like there is something you want to say, but you are stalling. Say it." Jessica said through her teeth, now annoyed knowing he was setting her up for some revelation and a BIG fight._

 _"_ _Do you have anything to want to tell me Jessica? I am only going to ask you once, and I hope to hell you do me the courtesy of not lying to my face, because once I have to ask you in specific, there is no going back." Harvey threatened._

 _Jessica rattled her brain where Harvey was going with this? She had an instinct that instantly made her insides drop within her cavity if she was right. Her mind went to the worse case scenario._

 _"_ _Nothing? Why am I not surprised?" Harvey baited her. He lifted his scotch and took another swig cleaning the contents from the glass, aggressively placing it down on the marble countertop. In the stark silence of their home, the sound made Jessica jump in the sharp pitch to her ears._

 _Making his way around the bar, Harvey made light of his musings, acting impressed with Jessica's tactics as he offered with a sarcastic nod of his head, "You played this good Jessica. Really, Bobby Fischer. You had_ _ **us**_ _both wrapped around your finger and you must have loved every second. Kudos."_

 _"_ _Us?" Her beautiful face contorted, feigning confusion as Harvey came toward her stopping in his tracks when he was an arm's length away, standing square in her space._

 _"_ _Tony Giannopoulos." The forged musing in Harvey's voice was now gone. His eyes were now set in stone; he had delivered his first blow, a cold explosion._

 _Jessica stood silent. The only movement she made was with her eyes and they went straight to the floor in fear of what was on the line. Her instincts were right, as they always were._

 _"_ _What's wrong Jess? Something trigger your understanding all of a sudden?" The nasty wit was back, baiting Jessica, probing a fight he knew he was well equipped to handle based on her initial reaction to his first shot._

 _"_ _Harvey, I don't know what you think you know…" Still calm Jessica began, until Harvey went off on her and bellowed in her face, "You were fucking him when you were with me!"_

 _"_ _No!" Jessica's voice was sharp in its conviction as she matched his tone. "I was not involved with Tony when you and I became serious. I made a clean break and broke things off with him. But yes Tony and I dated before…"_

 _She watched as Harvey became more agitated with each word she offered. "Before what?" He cut her off, his neck reddening in his anger._

 _"_ _Before you and I became serious."_

 _"_ _So you admit that you were still involved with Giannopoulos after our first night…"_

 _Jessica was silent. She knew the evidence Harvey came stacked with. He wanted to catch her in a technicality. He continued, "Let me refresh your timeline…that night, on that terrace, where we laid it all out on the table and I told you that I loved you…"_

 _"_ _Yes." There was no sense in trying to spin around it, it was true...technically._

 _Jessica had a relationship with Tony. They had been seeing one another for months, in private. Jessica, never being one for public declarations of her personal life, kept the relationship discreet considering both Tony and herself were high profile individuals in the city. He was also one of Harvey's biggest clients, and frankly it was no one's goddamn business. Tony always had a thing for Jessica for years. They had revolved in the same social and business circles and he always found ways to get to Jessica. Tony courted her for years and had made it his mission to become involved with her in his last attempt. And he finally made progress…unbeknownst to the public eye._

 _"_ _Jesus! We joked bout Tony while you were lying right here with me, how you could make him do anything because I thought he had a thing for you, how you were my secret weapon to get him to see things my way. This whole time you were lying to me, while you were laying with him!" Harvey added in a devastated tone, his eyes had a slight sheen when it came out of him._

 _Harvey had noticed once, upon Donna's instance and observation of course, that Giannopoulos had a crush on Jessica. Harvey would often tease Jessica but little did he know, they had actually been involved with one another, which made this situation a thousand times worse!_

 _"_ _Harvey…" Jessica tried placing her palms on his chest to calm him, trying to get her thoughts in order to offer her side of the story._

 _"_ _Don't! Don't you even try!" Harvey spewed in a panic, swiping her attempt away, finally realizing his worst fear, which Jessica confirmed out loud._

 _"_ _Harvey please…Listen to me!" Jessica pleaded loudly as she caught his forearm with a grip of her red nails. Harvey looked at her as she started, "I understand you are pissed, and hurt, and feeling overwhelmed by all of this but you have to understand, that night between you and me was never supposed to happen! It was a twist of fate, not something we planned on. But after it happened, I…I had never been happier…ever. I knew I loved you for years but never in my wildest dreams thought that it would be possible to love you out loud. I knew that I had to end my relationship with Tony right there because I knew this was it." Jessica placed her hands on Harvey's tired face, and held him to get a grip on the reality of the situation._

 _He let her._

 _Jessica's voice softened as she offered, "Yes there was overlap, but my personal life was not something I ever publicized and you knew that, and that included Tony at the time. The next time I saw Tony I ended it, end of story."_

 _An arrogant laugh came out of Harvey as he snipped, "Not before fucking him one last time, right?" The smirk was dripping in conceit, as he had one over on his newfound enemy._

 _No answer came from Jessica; how could Harvey have possibly…"Answer me!" He bellowed, instinctively Jessica jumped out of her skin, dropping her hands from his face. "Did you sleep with him after I told you I loved you and waited years for you to come around just the night before?"_

 _"_ _Yes!" Jessica met his tone in frustration and realization of the beginning of the end. She wouldn't go down with out a fight and the freedom of truth, "I slept with him one more time, only because he loved me and needed me one more time and out of pity I indulged him. I cared for him and he treated me very well and I couldn't deny him the closure."_

 _"_ _Did you love him?" Harvey snarled aggressively. He was savage, he needed to know everything or it would eat at him forever. His pride was just built that way._

 _Jessica shook her head in complete absolution, as she truly loved only one man, of this she was certain just by sheer comparison of the magnitude of feelings. "No I love you Harvey, with everything I have, with everything in me. Tony would have been a consolation."_

 _"No you don't. Because if you did you would have told me the truth." The certainty and conviction in his argument was another canon he let go in his arsenal._

 _"_ _And how would that go exactly? Would you have liked me to tell you in the middle of making love? Or when we went away? Or how about in the middle of a deposition? I didn't tell you because it didn't matter. I was in a relationship and then I wasn't." It was Jessica's turn to aggressively come at Harvey. She was done with this inquisition! Her fight to save their relationship was now on point and rational, shock set aside. She spewed the words as though she was talking to a small petulant child, throwing a tantrum because someone stole his toy in the sandbox._

 _"_ _Bullshit! You could have told me that first night, especially considering that the topic of Tony came up!"_

 _"_ _You would have flown off the handle in a jealous rage and any chance to build something would have been gone."_

 _"_ _Wrong! I may have been jealous, but I would have gotten over it. I would have understood it at that time because it was out of my control. But now, now I'm done!"_

 _"_ _I don't accept that! You aren't even willing to work through this, to try and get past it? Then I meant nothing to you, like every other woman…"_

 _"_ _Don't you diminish what you mean to me by deflecting your mess onto me! I LOVED YOU AND YOU BETRAYED US!"_

 _They yelled at one another, coming with every weapon in their arsenal. That's where it got ugly, the turn for the worse._

 _"_ _You made a mistake with me and I forgave you! You literally made a play to try to destroy me with Darby, and I still managed…"_

 _"_ _That's different!"_

 _"_ _No, its not! Betrayal is betrayal!" Jessica was wild in her disregard for gracefulness, control and composure. She lost it on Harvey's arrogance and judgment. She went there with him…easily. She didn't regret that dagger thrown his way._

 _"_ _Don't you get it?! All I can see now is you and Giannopoulos…his hands all over you, his mouth where…Jesus…I can't even say it! It's all ruined!" Harvey's hands expressed what his words couldn't, his face rushed with blood, his eyes glossed threatening to spill, his insides constricted in his rage and hurt, "I am his lawyer for fucks sake! You made me the chump. You made a fool out of me!" Harvey rambled, until he fired the next canon in Jessica's direction. "You made me my father!"_

 _Everything in Jessica sank quantitatively in realization of what this was to Harvey and where this was all coming from._

 _The magnitude of his words hit her at the speed of gunfire and she couldn't deny the wound of his words._

 _She took the hit._

 _At that very moment, she couldn't help but feel responsible for the weight of her confession, his confrontation, and what her actions did to the man she loved._ _When she saw that one tear of rage or devastation come down Harvey's face, she lost it._

 _She cried._

 _"_ _Harvey…" Jessica's voice cracked in the silence of the room, the tension was so thick that it was even hard to speak, but she did her best, even if his back was to her…she tried again, pride was the least of her concern at this stage. "I need you to understand what I did with Tony was closure. Nothing more. We had a moment, end of story. And since then I have made conscious effort to respect all parties but keeping my distance. I don't want to hurt you, and I didn't want to hurt him."_

 _"_ _You only did that because you were terrified I would find out, don't kid yourself" Harvey spewed in arrogance, quickly pulling himself together. Watching Jessica loose control was self-gratifying to his ego, he bounced back quick at took the reigns of control._

 _"What you did to me with Darby was a blatant target on my back. I forgave you and still let it go enough to fall in love with you with no conditions." Her voice cracked again, reminding herself how hard it was to reconcile the hurt and the struggle in the decision. Jessica made one final attempt to salvage their relationship. "Can't you find it in your heart to move past this?" She approached him apprehensively, meekly reaching for his body, "Believe me Harvey, it was a goodbye."_

 _"_ _I don't believe you." Harvey met her tone, but was cold in his delivery; "I don't trust you, not anymore."_

 _He took a few steps backing away from Jessica towards the foyer as he offered, "But let me tell you what I do believe, when someone twists a knife, I want to twist one right back."_

And just before Harvey threw it all away, he still managed to leave a sting of venom she still found herself extracting from her veins even a year later.

 _Jessica took a deep breath, pushing the reset button at lightening speed. She stood a little taller in her presence, placing the metaphorical armour on her body hearing those words out of Harvey's mouth. He wasn't done…there was more. He didn't just come for her heart; he came for blood._

 _"_ _Meaning?" Jessica visibly swallowed._

 _"_ _Meaning, I'm done! I am done with you, and the firm. You and Louis are on your own." Harvey removed a piece of paper from his breast pocket and flashed the notice as a piece of evidence to his statement, placing it on the marble decorative table, "I am formally notifying you that effective immediately I am resigning and taking the following 10 associates and partners with me… and I am taking clients. Before you say anything, it's done. Clients have already been contacted and notified as per our bi-laws."_

 _A predatory smile crossed Jessica's lips at Harvey's audacity and his absurd display of ego, narcissism, and disbelief in the pace it all went to hell. He had orchestrated a coup._

 _"_ _I'd like to see you try. Calling clients means shit if you can't practice. I refuse to let you out of your non-complete and we both know my contracts are iron clad."_

 _"_ _Like us?" The venomous quip caused Harvey's eyebrows to rise in a mocking manner "Anything's possible Jess, believe me. Just make it easy on us both and make the clean break. Save yourself the embarrassment publicly. Let's not forget the jeopardy of Mike going to the authorities and putting every case to appeal, the threat of criminal prosecution, not to mention the potential malpractice suits for every case he touched. I'm sure I could convince the D.A. to cut a deal if Mike gives you up because we both know the D.A would prefer a whale to a trout." Harvey shrugged and arrogantly leveraged, "and we also know you don't like to have your dirty laundry aired in public. You enjoy the secret, as we've clearly established tonight. Sign it!"_

 _The cruel smile that crossed Harvey's lips knowing he had her over a barrel made her sick. Harvey had used the jeopardy of Mike many times over the years on her, but in its finality she breathed a sigh of relief. The jeopardy would be gone; at least there was that. She came to him and snatched the pen out of his hand. Jessica just wanted to be done with the man at this stage and his cruelty. She scanned the document and a few of the names who decided to follow Harvey jumped out at her; Michael Ross, Rachel Zane and, of course, the woman she always had one eye on while she was with Harvey, Donna Paulson._

 _Jessica placed the pen down and with a few strokes of ink it all came to an end._

 _But she didn't anticipate this next part as she came back up and met Harvey's eyes. The words just freely flowed out of his mouth, watching her thoughtfully. His voice was reflective and clear of emotion, his eyes narrowed as he offered, "You know, you play this immaculate beacon of nobility, like you are the epitome of the moral center of every relationship you've ever had, yet you are the shadiest of all of us…me, Mike, Louis, Malone, Hardman. At least we are human with flaws and we admit to them, but you…you like to project this nauseating aura of superiority when really you the worst of all!"_

 _Jessica shrugged and without care quickly deflected the shot, "It's just my way to keep you jackasses in line or all of this would have fallen apart a long time ago."_

 _"_ _Well you won't need to worry about that anymore because by the time I'm done with you, I will destroy it and you. So it would have all been in vain."_

 _It was one thing to go after Jessica's heart, after her blood, but when Harvey threatened her throne, the stakes became everything. She didn't even know when the instinct invaded her body, but it wasn't until the force of her palm met his face that she realized she struck him. Her hand was on fire from the abrupt and forceful contact and Harvey's head still remained dejected to the side, his hand now covering the spot trying to calm the affected and reddened skin. The sound reverberated through the silent room._

 _"_ _You piece of shit! I guess I dodged a bullet tonight." Jessica spewed watching him trying to recover from the force she released, realizing the snake of a man she had in her bed all this time._

 _Harvey laughed in her face pretending to be unaffected by her swap. He just shrugged a mocking "Guess so."_

 _He grabbed his piece of paper, methodically folding it and placing it back in his suit where it came from. He turned his back and headed straight for the front door of his once home with Jessica for the last time, not before hearing Jessica yell through the foyer, "Go to hell!"_

 _"_ _You first! See you on the battlefield baby!"_

 _Harvey slammed the door shut, letting it rattle on its hinges._

 _It was over._

The sting in his words still coursed through her body paralyzing her in random moments through the months. Even as a now distant memory, they still managed to press her insides attacking her, their affects could still shut down pieces of her insides. Harvey's words where like delayed landmines, every time she thought she had finally cleared the field, BOOM! Another one went off.

Time had not yet healed all of the battle scars and wounds. Maybe coming face to face with Harvey and Tony would end this once and for all? She convinced herself it was just fear and she believed fear was a liar. She and Louis had a solid strategy and very valuable intel knowing the men on the other side of the aisle. Every scenario and strategy was methodically approached, it just depended how nasty Harvey was really willing to go, and just how much the two men really hated her. They always did say all was fair in love and war. Jessica was ready.

(¯`·._.·(¯`·._.· Later that day in Court ·._.·´¯)·._.·´¯)

Jessica and Louis had entered the courtroom and she could see the back of both their heads, Tony and Harvey. Neither was speaking to one another. It was evident that this was just a revenge game, to stroke their egos and possibly unravel a deal that no longer served Giannopoulos interests.

The sound of Jessica's stilettos echoed a warning through the room. She breezed past Mike and Rachel sitting in the pews of the gallery, not acknowledging or even recognizing them as all she could see at that moment was the target on Harvey's back. It was like a draft came through the courtroom. The moment she entered the room, the temperature had shifted, enough to make Harvey's hairs stand on end. It was like a crystal clear silence just before the impact of a unbeknownst force. There was quietness before the storm.

The first set of eyes to meet hers was Tony's as he turned and looked at her.

Everything about Jessica was strategically in place. She decided to wear all white. Perception was everything. Besides she knew Harvey loved it when she wore white. It turned him on. Her blazer was fitted and elegant. Her skirt was structured and contoured to her feminine curves. Her oxblood handbag carried her arsenal of documented weapons, and her matching oxblood patent stilettos were a weapon in their own right. They had a license to kill.

Tony's stare was enough to cause Harvey to finally glance in her direction knowing she was now in the vicinity as she methodically approached the defendant's table. He couldn't help himself. It had been eleven months and he was curious. Besides, he didn't like the look Tony was giving her. She looked good.

Jessica did her best to ignore Harvey. She would have to look at his smug face during questioning. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction. She had too much pride for that.

When Jessica was called to the stand to be sworn in, she had a thought. The time for guts and guile had come and whatever brush Harvey was going paint her with on the stand, Jessica decided she would remain constant and a warrior in her own right. She would make no apologies for her choices, her intentions or her decisions because she reckoned they would be misconstrued when ego was involved. She stood by her convictions, regardless of right or wrong. Truth was subjective, the law was not. She lived her entire life sure in her decisions as they were now absolute. She knew there was no sense in living in the past, it's not like she could go back and change it now. She was powerful, but even she didn't have that ability. As Jessica sat down at the witness stand and crossed her long legs, one over the other, suggestively shifting her body to square off with opposing council. She projected an aura of superiority and confidence, as though she had nothing to hide...on the outside.

What Harvey couldn't see were her insides were a mess; seeing him again after all the countless sleepless nights of missing him, of anticipating the hate and negativity he was going to sling at her, and of coming face to face with him after their extraordinary history. It was like a high, the adrenaline rushed her insides but it was bad trip, dichotomously pulling her in several directions. But what held it all together was that she had was her pride; pride in knowing that she was still standing, able and willing to come at this situation head on with full fight left in her. No one messed with her kingdom, not even the great Harvey Spector.

Jessica watched Harvey methodically, her face scaled in stoicism. He took his time before his first statement or question directed at her. He strutted toward the stand, peacocking and taking his time, staring at her legs all the way up to her face, stopping in all the right places. He tried to rattle her. He offered her a cocky grin, as though he was savouring the proverbial carcass before his attack.

Jessica had a few horsemen in her blockade ready to unleash, but it was all a matter of timing. Harvey would learn that valuable lesson in a couple of hours.

Proud men couldn't see their own sins, and that was the strategy Jessica would play. She would play then men across the aisle, not their games.

"Good afternoon Ms. Pearson." Harvey's deep voice reverted through the wood panelled room.

"Good afternoon to you Mr. Spector."

Court was now in session.

THE END.


	5. Greed

**[A/N: Ok so…Pride was a heavy chapter and thank you for the wonderful reviews. For those who wanted more of that one, I was playing with the idea of a bonus chapter to finish courtroom scene but not being a legal guru, it was hard to technically write the strategy of how Jessica would demolish Harvey in open court without some additional research. But I will still play with the idea, just no promises. Now, onto the Greed chapter! It is a metaphoric play-on words of wanting more of something (or someone) when you just can't have it (or them), which let's face it, is pretty perfect for Harvey and Jessica. It takes place some time in season 4. It is a sexy, fun and playful chapter. Oh, and there is some reference to the movie Wall Street. Fair warning: Mature themes, suggestive, and strong language. The sexual tension is heavy in this chapter. It was a fun one to write, hope you enjoy! I own nothing.]**

 **•** ***´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸Greed¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•**

Jessica couldn't believe she was doing this. This was so not her style. But when she had approached him earlier that day at the office with her suggestion of a rendezvous at his place that evening and he so flatly told her he had "plans" that evening, she got suspicious…quickly. For a man who was in a relationship and constantly hounding her to give him more, Jessica didn't like the fact that he couldn't even alliterate a detailed response or defer his 'plans' to another night. So she decided to find out what was really going on.

Jessica was normally not the jealous type but she did have issues with trust; it was just her nature considering her line of work, the outcomes of her past relationships and the nature of who she just was- a self proclaimed lone wolf. She figured the simplest way to disprove her suspicions was a surprise visit to his doorstep that night. She rationed, if he had nothing to hide then they would have a little spontaneous fun. If he did, at least she would know for sure and could move on without having to sacrifice any more time and effort. Deep down, she was afraid of the latter, as she didn't have much luck in the relationship department. Either way she would bring him to his knees, one way or another.

Truth be told, when Jessica was dolling herself up, she was a little bit excited in the thrill of the surprise seduction. It was so out of the norm for her. She took a long relaxing bath after her tiring day at the office, fluffed her hair, applied a fresh coat of make-up, (albeit a little more provocative than her day look) and picked out a very sexy outfit. The aim was to entice her man to get the hint without her even having to say a word. The ensemble was not meant for the faint of heart or for someone who wasn't ready to read between the lines. Jessica's intent was to provoke a reaction in in him before she would set him straight.

So there she was, ten minutes to midnight, standing at his doorstep, dressed in a black satin trench coat, a pair of Louboutin stilettos, and a surprise number beneath the buttons of the coat.

Surely whatever plans he had should have commenced by then or else he would have some serious explaining to do.

In her anxiety, Jessica fussed with what to do with her hands so she coolly leaned on the doorframe, then nervously popped the collar of her coat and tugged at décolletage pulling it a little lower down her chest, finally satisfied while settling her hand back on his lacquered door frame. She felt a little awkward, but who wouldn't in this situation? Her other hand was hooked through her YSL handbag daggling at her wrist as her fingers wrapped around her hip, leaning into the frame with a provocation. Just before Jessica pressed the doorbell, she exhaled loudly and said to herself, "Here we go…"

DING.

Jessica heard his deep chuckle as he approached the door and muffled voices from the other side of the door. Her brow instinctively furrowed trying to listen to the voices on the opposite side of the door. He definitely had someone at his place.

Instantly her anxiety peaked, her shield went up.

She could feel the rattle of her instincts to self-preserve her pride, which usually manifested with an edge in her demeanor. As he opened the door his small smile faded and his face went stark blank.

Jessica observed his crisp white button down from earlier in the day was now un-tucked and casually unbuttoned- slightly disheveled. He still wore his dress slacks, as though he had just returned from his day and had no time to change.

"Whaaat are you doing here?" Jeff questioned, slightly dumbfounded by her presence.

"Oh you know, I was in the neighborhood having dinner with a friend…" Jessica coldly offered with a shrug, removing herself from his doorframe. She was starting to get cagey. She didn't like the way the scene was unfolding, at all.

"What friend?" Jeff asked, eyes narrowing as he pulled the door closer to his body to shield what was going on inside.

"You don't know _him_." Jessica easily fibbed.

" _Him_?" Jeff felt a pang of wariness as his eyes scanned Jessica, dressed in what seemed to be only a trench coat and heels. "Dressed like that? Must be one special friend."

Jeff couldn't help but think she was showing up to break it off with him or she was playing some little game with him. This was definitely not the time.

"Well you know, you have your plans, and I have mine." Jessica, ever the master of passive aggressive dropped a well time one liner to get her point across with an easy shrug.

"Jess, what is going on?" Jeff was growing inpatient; he wanted a straight answer from her.

"I just wanted to stop by for a little nightcap and some fun but it seems you're _still_ in the middle of your plans this evening, so I'll just go..." Jessica probed, hoping Jeff would be straight with her.

"Jess, I told you…." He gave her what she considered another run-around. Her lack of patience peaked and she cut him off abruptly needing to know, "Jeff, what is this? Who's in there with you?"

"It's nothing, can we talk tomorrow?" He figured it may be better to deal with it in the morning, now was definitely not the time being earshot of the scene inside his place.

"Jeff, let me in!" Jessica demanded, her voice now rising a few octaves. If he cared for her, he would do what she asked.

When Jessica didn't get the affirmative answer from Jeff, she took it upon herself to push past him because her gut was giving her every inclination that something was definitely not adding up. There was a secret within his townhouse. And Jessica hated things being kept from her. With a confident gait Jessica strutted through the doorframe, pushing the door open with her palm and brushing against Jeff's chest. Her heels hit the hardwood like she was determined to find something within the walls of his home.

What she saw staring back at her was enough to stop her in her tracks midway down the foyer; four sets of eyes around a table, wide set at her sudden appearance, alongside two slight slack jaws of shock, with an abundance of smoke engulfing the dimly lit space. Jessica looked over her shoulder back at Jeff who was now leaning against his door, hands in his pockets, with a smug look of satisfaction at her misreading of the situation.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" She hurled in annoyance, relief, and irk back in Jeff's direction.

There they were, Harvey, Mike, Louis and Jeff's friend from the SEC that she only met once but already forgot his name. They sat around a poker table having a guy's night- gambling, drinking, smoking and stuffing their faces.

"Hey Jess! How's it going?" Harvey offered in an upbeat tone, leaning from his seat so he could mock Jessica better.

Harvey's eyes shinned in amusement with a matching grin that reached the crinkle in his eye upon just hearing the whole conversation between his Partner and her boyfriend. Based on the time, and her appearance, Harvey clearly surmised she was there for a booty call.

"Shut up Harvey!" Jessica snapped positioning her body back in Jeff's direction, "You couldn't tell me these were your plans this evening?" She pointed back in the general direction of testosterone around the green felt tabletop.

"I didn't tell you because they are your employees and your friends and I wanted to get to know them on my own terms. It was JUST a guy's night, that's all. Besides, it was a good gauge of trust, which clearly beautiful…" Jeff pecked her on the lips in forgiveness as he passed her "…you failed."

"Big time!" Harvey again chimed in.

"Stay out of it Harvey!" Clearly Harvey was a little in the bag; he thought he was a comedian. Both Mike and Louis mocked Harvey like kids in class being scolded by the teacher, making sounds like he was just sent to the principal's office.

"You need a drink." Jeff said to Jessica as the perma-smile was now etched in his handsome face, amused to no end at how wound up she appeared.

"No, I need to blow off some steam….Don't!" She lifted her hand and index finger in protest at Harvey in warning, as he opened his mouth to make another joke, shuffling the deck. She knew him too well to let him get away with an easy joke. This got a chuckle from Mike and Louis at her ability to shut him up like that. Harvey snapped his mouth back shut as though he swallowed a fly and he continued shuffling.

Jessica rolled her eyes at herself in frustration at this bizarre situation she found herself in on a Friday night. She was only slightly mortified that her friends and employees had caught a glance of her personal life, which she normally guarded within an inch of her life. She was irritated that her boyfriend kept this from her and how he now had every reason to lull her mistrust over her head. And to top it all off, she appeared like the jealous basket case that was so sexually frustrated she just showed up uninvited to his doorstep. She most definitely needed that drink!

Jessica followed Jeff to his open concept kitchen, which was just one long room that continued into the dining room where the boys were continuing to play at the far end. Jeff breaked to attend to Jessica, and she watched him prepare her martini just the way she liked it without having to say a word. He wore a whimsical smile as he worked. As he presented Jessica with her drink, she snarled in annoyance, "Don't look at me like that!" still half mortified.

"It's cute! You're cute when you are embarrassed." Jeff admired her leaning against the quartz tabletop of the island, arms coolly crossed with his back to the guys, while Jessica tapped her manicured nails against the tabletop in anxiety.

She just threw the sizeable drink back in one gulp and asked, "Another one please."

Jeff burst out laughing, shaking his head. The reaction caught Harvey's attention who now watched the couple in the kitchen. As Jeff made an effort to make Jessica round two, he flirtatiously hooked a finger onto Jessica's coat and looked down to see what was awaiting him. It earned Jeff a swap from Jessica, clearly pretending to still be irritated with him until a smile spread across her beautiful face and they giggled like teenagers about something Jeff said. Jeff then placed his hands on her arms and ran them up and down their length trying to calm her down until he pulled her into a sweet embrace. Jessica's face instantly softened when he whispered something in her ear.

It wasn't often that Harvey could catch a glimpse of what Jessica was like in a relationship and how she interacted with a partner not in a professional capacity. Sure he joked, and she played, and he teased and she outdid, but Harvey never really could tell how much of herself she gave, showed, or revealed. After all, they were just friends, long-time friends but still, just friends. Overt intimacy was no-no between the two of them. It was an unspoken word they never indulged in.

Jessica was the greatest poker player he knew, even though he never even sat across a table from her with a set of cards. She was always elusive and an enigma to Harvey. All jokes aside, tonight he got to see a little more. Harvey could tell she was crazy about Jeff just by the way she stood in his space and how she eyed him, but he observed she didn't even know it. But there was something… he couldn't quite put his finger on it…about his fascination with this situation and her awkwardness.

And then a realization hit Harvey, which made him look at her in a different way. Jessica was just a woman who was infatuated by a man, who had all the same insecurities, concerns, and tells as any other mere mortal, no matter how hard she tried to keep it at bay. She was there because she needed attention, sex, and care from someone else outside the walls of firm. Someone who could reach her in a completely foreign capacity than he ever could because that was the one thing that they were not to one another, intimate- and not just in the physical sense.

Tonight she wasn't the Managing Partner, nor the warrior queen of the legal world, mighty and unbreakable in stature, she was a woman who wanted companionship. And that bit of Jessica was fascinating to Harvey.

He then realized that would be a part of her he would never know.

But he really wanted to.

Harvey had Jessica in many ways already- a friend, a mentor, a trusted advisor, a professional counterpart and sometimes adversary- but Harvey wanted more of Jessica, just like that. The silent stare downs, unspoken words, and skirted chase of their connection was not enough for Harvey because if he could be that affected by just looking in, he knew there was something more just simmering below the surface.

But he seemed to be too late.

Jeff was a good guy. Harvey had approved of Jeff in an official capacity as a partner at the firm and even for Jessica, so how could his head go down this road?

Now watching her, Harvey contemplated if he ever was in a position where he was already dealt a winning hand with Jessica? Did he fold the cards without ever knowing he had held them all along? Harvey rationed it really was true what people said, everyone wanted something they couldn't have. It was the root of all greed.

Having to shake his head out of his deep thoughts, Harvey placed his bet at the table decided to gamble the cards that were _actually_ in his hand and in his control.

After Jessica's second drink, third now in tow, she followed Jeff to the table to the one open seat, which seemed to be waiting for her that evening. She sat between Jeff to her right and his friend Adam Greeves to the left of her. Beside Adam sat Harvey, Mike and then Louis. Strategically she had the best seat at the table, to the right of the dealer; the last to talk at the table based on their original order.

"Hey Jessica, what's up?" Louis feigned coolly as he nervously nodded, almost compulsively, as his eyes couldn't stay focused on Jessica too long. His pupils bounced from her, to the ceiling. to his cards. It was all too much for Louis, seeing Jessica with the implied reason as to why she was really there. Louis had never seen Jessica in a casual capacity, as there always was a professional reason when he saw her outside the firm. It was just too weird for him.

"Louis." Jessica smiled in his direction and then looked dead across her way at Mike who gently squirmed in his seat as she flirtatiously tilted her head at him and blinked her long lashes and acknowledged him with an elegant control "Mike." Mike took a puff of his cigarette, slightly choking on the dense air as she acknowledged him. He couldn't smoke weed so he settled with a pack of smokes just for one night. Besides, Jeff and Harvey busted Mike's balls earlier that evening when he asked Harvey for an extra cigar when Harvey provided one for everyone except him, too which Harvey and Jeff massacred him with kindergarten and little boy jokes. But it didn't matter because he was killing it at the table.

"Uhhhhh, hey… there, uh… Jessica" Mike was so uncomfortable as was evidenced by his evasiveness words and guttural sounds which managed to stay strung together, finally clearing his throat.

"Spit it out Mike!" Louis smacked his on the back and then placed his bet.

"Yeah, yeah, you look…ugh…different, I mean, lov-ley…" Mike continued to ramble, squinting his eyes, trying not to offend Jessica or Jeff, still not able to make focused eye contact with her.

"Be cool, man! And keep your hands above the table where we can all see them!" Harvey rolled his eyes and scolded the boy to his left, causing Jessica genuinely chuckle at Harvey's delivery, which also caused Adam to thoroughly laugh through the cloud of cigar smoke he released.

Jeff just felt bad for the kid, even though he was thoroughly enjoying the scene. Mike's cockiness took a volatile turn to everyone's advantage with Jessica's presence at the table. Mike was a shark. He was clearly a savant with cards and counting. Someone else actually had a shot of taking the kid down now that Jessica joined the table.

"Not cool man, not cool." Mike tossed his cards as he folded, shaking his head mortified, while whispering to Harvey "She looks..."

"…like a smoke show." Harvey concluded, cigar now placed in his mouth as he puffed, staring at his pair of cards not really acknowledging Mike or Jessica. He played it cool with the kid.

"I was going to say different, but yeah smoke show does it too." Mike leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms slightly relieved to say it out loud. Mike felt less guilty gawking at Jessica knowing someone else thought the same. Harvey didn't seem too flustered by Jessica's presence, unlike him and Louis, which Mike found interesting. He shrugged his shoulders and counted his large stack of chips. Jessica politely greeted Adam and exchanged pleasantries while Mike and Harvey whispered. She now finally had Adam's name straight.

And then Jessica's big brown eyes finally settled on Harvey and a big smirk of self-satisfaction crossed her lips, waiting to see what was going to come out Harvey's mouth. As far as she was concerned, she knew she didn't have to wait long. Something about Harvey in charged situations made her extra sharp and him extra cocky.

"You know Jess, this could take a while, five lawyers and poker game. Jeff might be tied up for a bit. Raise $7,000." Harvey tossed the chips in the center of the table, arrogantly boasting, placing his cigar back in his mouth, as the left side of his mouth pulled up into an arrogant grin.

"That's too bad. That was supposed to be my job tonight."

The table came to a dead halt and Jessica sipped at her Martini gauging the reactions of those around her.

Mike's jaw went slack and Adam whistled averting his eyes from Jessica. Jeff's looked like his pupils were going to bulge out of his head. All Louis could do was revert to a peanut gallery as his eyes bounced anywhere except in Jessica's direction, "Fifty shades of whaaat?"

A little additional shock and awe couldn't hurt her chances to school these jackasses in a proper poker game. "Would you gentlemen be a opposed to late buy-in so we could speed this game up a bit? A girl's gotta eat." It was now Jessica's plan to gain some power back and use the situation to her advantage capitalizing on the fact that they were all primed and unfocused with her abrasive display. It wasn't often she could use her sexuality to her advantage as she was always the professional.

But, this…this was going to be fun.

Jessica's eyes went straight back to Harvey's gaze. He looked at her unlike the other men at the table. She observed, he looked like he was amused to no end, which brought a tug to her lips. All Harvey could do was return the smirk on Jessica's lips.

Harvey knew what she was doing. And he was most definitely intrigued. It was just another facet he had never overtly seen on display and he was greedy to get more. It wasn't about the extra ten thousand in the pot. It was about getting to have her at the table and see a little bit more of her revealed. Besides, Harvey was sure he would have enough material to bug the hell out of her for his own amusement for months.

"Buy-in is ten thousand, no limit stakes hold'em. Winner takes all." The two of them sat staring daggers at one another in an obvious power play, which did not go unnoticed by Jeff. But it seemed Harvey was the only one who could string some words together at this point.

Jessica stood from her seat in acknowledgement of Harvey's challenge.

The scratch of the chair's legs against the hardwood in the stark silence of the room had all eyes on Jessica still. She removed her chequebook from her purse, tossing two thousand in cash in the center of the table, and then wrote a cheque for the remaining eight. "Shuffle up and deal boys."

 **•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸1 Hour Later¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•**

Adam was out and Louis was down to his last thousand, being put all in by Jeff and Harvey.

Jessica just watched.

That was until it came to the side pot for Jeff and Harvey. When it was Harvey's turn to talk to Jeff's nine thousand dollar raise, which would put Harvey almost all in, Jessica sat back in her seat coolly. She slowly crossed her legs, revealing some skirt and leg in the process. She then strategically placed a hand on Jeff's neck massaging his flesh in a suggestive way. Her eyes never left Harvey, trying to pressure Harvey into a decision and consequently rattle him in the process.

Jeff made a slight noise of satisfaction to her ministrations, and as much as he enjoyed the feeling, Jeff more so enjoyed the tactic at the table. Jeff loved how devious Jessica was being. She was a ball of surprises this evening.

It worked. But Jessica didn't know it by the look on Harvey's face. And so, Harvey called.

Upon the reveal, Louis was now out of the game and Jeff's cards by nature of the deal won the hand. He had straight flush and Harvey just a straight. Jeff had made a sizeable dent in Harvey's stack, causing Harvey's ego to be slightly bruised, especially when Jeff teased him with, "What can I say man, the house always wins." as he collected his sizeable stack, earning a wily snicker from Jessica.

Louis had left for the evening, which then only left four at the table.

At that point Harvey was on a mission. He had to show up Jeff and Jessica. He knew he made the right strategic call, he had a proper hand and the probability of Jeff having a suited straight was low, but the fact that he was knowingly baited and affected by Jessica bothered him to no end.

Thus, Harvey got greedy- not for their money- but for her attention. Harvey was now motivated to show-off his mastery skills of poker especially in front of Jessica. He was not pleased by how the hand played out. Greed could make man do anything to satisfy the need to acquire. Harvey needed his stature back. After all Jessica was playing dirty. She had rattled him, and he was not too happy by that factor. But he recognized… it was clever. And so, Harvey set his sights to take out Jeff and then Jessica.

The stakes just went up for Harvey, and without a word he sat back in his chair and just lit his cigar again and took his frustration out on it, gnawing at the base, covertly of course. He couldn't afford another tell.

The next few rounds of deals saw the remaining four players shuffle some chips around but, no major moves. That was until Jessica held a suited King/Queen of hearts. She was in a good position and made a pair of Kings on the table, with a potential straight.

Mike checked, Jeff folded and Jessica followed Mike.

Harvey went all in with his last $7,000. Mike called and Jessica just watched the two men across the table. Tapping her manicured fingers on the table's edge as she eyed Harvey skeptically and challenged, "You don't have shit! I know you're bluffing. I can tell."

Harvey shrugged and quoted one of his favourite movies, "What's worth doing is worth doing for money" and stared a hole through Jessica.

"C'mon Jess put your money where your mouth is. Try me, I know you are dying to." It was Harvey's turn to rattle Jessica.

His words were loaded; he knew she could read between the lines.

And when he was cocky, it drove her crazy.

Her need to school him was always too overwhelming to pass up, that much he knew of her and his baiting tactics. Jessica let a self-satisfying laugh leave her mouth; bringing the vodka cocktail to her lips trying to ignore the double entendre Harvey laced her with, which thankfully went unnoticed by the others at the table, cleverly disguised as an shit-talking; standard practice at a poker table.

"You think you can bait me with a quote from Wall Street? Boy you have another thing coming." So she sat there taking her time, making him sweat staring at the cards at the center of the table, leaning in on her elbows covering her mouth of any tells. Jessica was slow playing the situation. Her lashes swept back up to look at Mike and then focused on Harvey.

"Fold." Jessica tossed her cards- strategically so- deciding she wanted Harvey and Mike to battle this one out, ensuring her another play at the table and he possibility of another elimination.

Her strategy was to pin them all against one another, just by the sheer temptation of bait to beat the boss. Jessica knew the allure was enough that she could bend them to her will. She knew that liquidity was the means to her greed, so she kept her chips stacked. It was more satisfying to her to watch them all outdo one another in fear of looking like a loser. And she knew fear was the trigger to man's greed. So she just sat back and watched until she would get to take on Harvey one-on-one, the self-professed master of the game. The victory would taste that much better.

So she waited to gamble.

And it was a good call; Harvey made a dent in Mike's stack, holding pocket Aces and Mike just a pair of nines he made on the draw. Harvey was back in the game.

A frustrated "Shit!" came out of Mike's mouth as he slammed his cards on the table.

Harvey continued his playful competitive assault on Mike as he forcefully clapped his hand on his protégé's shoulder and quoted, "Don't run when you lose. Don't whine when it hurts…." When Jeff and chimed in and helped Harvey finish the quote, clearly both fans of Gordon Gekko, "It's like first grade. No one like's a cry baby."

"Oh fuck off!" Mike whined which prompted Jeff to ask Mike "What movie is that from?" Jeff and Harvey laughed at him.

A few more hands were dealt, no major pots until one came down to Mike and Jessica. Mike had made some small gains, up to $3,000 and that's when Jessica had decided to put him all in, armed with a pair of 7's and a 7 on the table. She figured trips were a safe bet.

Mike was first to reveal, showing a pair of Aces on the table, which then led Jessica to drop the gauntlet as she revealed her hand to the boys around the table.

"That's my girl!" Jeff exclaimed and hit his fist against the table when she revealed her lucky sevens. Jessica just sweetly smiled at Mike as she racked in his last funds of the game. It wasn't much but at least she had Harvey's little protégé out on her watch. Something she wished she could do at work, and so easily with just a few cards. But that was another story.

"Bye Mike!" Harvey laughed into his glass of scotch.

To Harvey and Jessica's amusement Mike made a cute speckle of himself, "This was all a coerced plan, let's all gang up on Mike. I see right through you people, all of you. Jessica I expected more from you!"

"Aww, Mikey…come here." Jessica called him over and patted her lap in an attempt to play with him. "Show me where it hurts and let me kiss the boo-boo!" She mocked him in a baby voice earning a rapturous chuckle from Harvey and Jeff remaining at the table. She lost it laughing with the humiliated look Mike gave her. He was all red and flustered.

Harvey continued the mocking session pushing his tumbler in Mike's hand saying "You wanted a seat at the table with the grown-ups that's what happens! Now go make yourself useful and filler-up." pointing Mike in the direction of the kitchen as Mike got up from the table.

"Oh, me too! Vodka-grapefruit." Jessica placed her empty glass in Mike's hand, she was a little tipsy but nothing she couldn't handle, it was enough to just make her more impulsive and laid back. "And a beer for Jeff, and hurry up! It's getting late and I want to get Harvey out of here ASAP."

"If that's the case, make it a double Mike …and don't lollygag!"

"You guys are so mean to him." Jeff leaned back in his chair and placed a hand on the back of Jessica's chair, shaking his head at the Name Partners truly amused.

"He likes it!" Harvey and Jessica said simultaneously with a shrug, and laughed at one another's well-timed zinger.

"Besides, he's still terrified of Jessica and it's so fun to watch." Harvey shuffled the cards in his hands to busy himself.

"It's true, I can make him do anything. Just like I used to do with Harvey." Jessica confidently leaned back in her seat and pushed Harvey's buttons. "Oh please! I was never that bad."

"You were worse!" Jessica's attitude was on point, bringing Harvey back down to size for her amusement, which Jeff cracked up at. Harvey just stared a hole through Jessica; a dry bothered look crossed his handsome face.

"You know I can hear you guys!" Mike offered from the kitchen, beyond annoyed they were laughing at his expense. His little ego was bruised and he just wanted to crawl in his bed with Rachel, at least she liked him. Maybe not after he lost $10,000. What was he going to tell her? Shit.

The players at the table just ignored Mike, continuing their _grown-up_ conversation at the table.

"Bull-Shit Jessica!" Harvey enthusiastically enunciated.

"I used to look at you a certain way and could make you quake in your Ferragamo's. Remember the Collins case?"

"That was one time!" Harvey confirmed, with brows furrowed and clearly annoyed. Their history, inside antidotes, and jokes didn't go unnoticed by Jeff; the familiarity between them and deep-rooted connection. Jeff just filed it away in the back of his mind.

"Still counts." Jessica shrugged irrevocably, and then coolly added, "Besides, I am a lot more laid back than I was back then."

They all took pause and just looked at Jessica incredulously. Who the hell was she kidding?

"Oh go to hell all of you!"

The comment earned her a laugh from the closest men in her life. Jeff placed an arm around her neck and kissed the side of her head, which instinctively caused Jessica to tense the moment it happened, her eyes revealing a slight pang of shock and awkwardness. Harvey averted his eyes at the open display of PDA with his best friend. It bothered Harvey, but he played it cool. It wasn't his place to feel strange, not technically.

He called out to Mike and watched him work in the kitchen. "Mike! What the hell is taking you so goddamn long?"

"One minute, Harvey!"

"Keep that tone up and you can walk home!"

"You're my ride man! Not cool."

"Get an Uber! I know I pay you enough for at least one of those."

Mike came back with refreshed drinks in hand as he complained, "Wha-C'mon Harvey! Besides I want to see you take Jessica out. Do it for me man! See that's funny because I can actually say that out loud and not get fired." Mike said self-satisfied at his quickness, a cute grin plastered on his face that made him look like a little boy, which earned him a chuckle from the boys at the table.

"You disloyal little shit!" Jessica laughed as she dealt cards to Harvey and Jeff and poked Jeff in the ribs to come to her defense.

"Hey, Owww!" Jeff recoiled at the abrupt sensation, "Every man for themselves in this game! Can't say anything because I want you out too. But baby…you are so beautiful." Jeff tried it on and she gave him an epic display of side eye as she hummed a skeptical, "Ummm hmmm."

Jessica was clearly not amused.

"Nice recovery Jeff!" Harvey mocked.

Jessica stood and reached over the table to Mike's pack of smokes and helped herself without warning or permission because well, she could. Without a word, she removed one, lit it, and sat down in her seat, arms crossed at the edge of the table holding the cigarette like she knew exactly what she was doing.

All eyes were on her again when she took her first inhaled in over a decade.

"You smoke?" Jeff asked baffled.

Harvey knew she smoked back in the day, just like he used to, until they both smartened up. But Harvey smiled when he thought back to the days where they used to take smoke breaks together, when he was just in the mailroom and she was just a Junior Partner. That's where they got to know one another back in the day. Eleven and four were his favorite times of day. They never even had to book the time; they just both knew the other would be downstairs in the courtyard of the building. Harvey knew they both came to count on those daily breaks to relieve themselves of their burdens and troubles, enjoying one another's company. Those five minutes were the best part of Harvey's day back then. Even now thinking back, Harvey couldn't help but smile at the now distant memories.

"Used to. At Harvard, these were breakfast, lunch and dinner along with a balanced diet of black coffee and pizza. Now are we going to play twenty questions or up the ante? Blinds should go up at this point."

Harvey chuckled at Jessica's bossiness at the table and the memory of their break-times.

"So hot!" Mike said out loud and to no one in particular, earning him a wink from Jessica as Mike too lit up a smoke.

 **•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸The Showdown¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•**

Twenty minutes later, Jeff was out.

Harvey had accomplished what he had set out to do. He snaked Jeff's winnings in a tense show down. This ultimately left Harvey and Jessica as the last two at the table, exactly where they both were hoping it would end up. Jessica had even forgotten about the purpose of her visit for the evening in the first place for just for the briefest moment, as she was so focused on getting down to the final two.

It was now close to two in the morning and Harvey sat with the lead of 37K and Jessica with the remaining 23K. Mike was the designated Vegas show girl, otherwise known as the dealer, and Jeff was finally in a position to support Jessica now that he was out. The two Name Partners were pinned in a Texas Hold'em showdown and they both knew what the rules were. There were no rules, besides those of the game. Anything was still possible, but one wrong move and it would be over, and quickly.

"You ready?" She suggestively inquired in Harvey's direction, as though there was no one else in the room.

"I'm not the one with the short stack at the table, Jessica." Harvey's line of sight did not waver as he expertly played with his stack of chips between his fingers.

"Aren't you?" Jessica sassed, adding weight to her words when her eyebrow shot up at Harvey. It earned her a smug smile from across the table and some wincing sounds from the peanut gallery of Mike and Jeff.

"Are you trying to say your balls are bigger than mine Jessica Pearson?"

"No, not trying. Confirming." Jessica was self-assured in her smugness.

"Ok. Let's see who's got whom by the balls when it's all said and done. Deal Mike." Harvey demanded without looking in Mike's direction.

Jessica was dealt two Queens right out the gate and was the big blind, which meant she was in a very good position. Harvey was first to talk.

Jeff tried reaching for Jessica's cards to sneak a peek and she smacked his hand away, not wanting to waste a good hand by revealing any tells. The stakes were too high now and she was determined to beat Harvey.

She wanted it _so_ bad.

And if she could do it on the first hand, it would be an epic display.

Harvey called to stay in the game and Jessica made the calculated decision to slow play him by just checking at the table to see the flop.

Harvey's eyes smouldered the length of the table into Jessica's eyes. She could see how bad he wanted to beat her. It was like his stare was consuming her piece by piece, but she couldn't look away. There was something in the blatant display of attention that Jessica had never seen from Harvey. What it was she wasn't sure but it did something to her. It stirred a feeling deep in her belly, as though there was a sudden drop of altitude and inertia took over. Jessica's abdomen tensed sharply and instantly felt like it dropped a few inches in her cavity, similar to the feeling in the first drop of a roller coaster. It was intense and frankly, exciting as hell. She wasn't sure if it was the severe stakes of the game, the play for power, or simply the look Harvey was giving her, but she was instantly turned on. She could feel her body reacting before the cards were even dealt. It was like she was walking a razor-thin line of a dangerous game.

And the then the flop hit the table, revealing a 3 of hearts, 9 of diamonds and a J of diamonds.

Harvey checked, and Jessica followed with a check. No bets were placed.

But it was beginning to become stifling in the room. The tension went up to constricting levels for both players as no major moves occurred but the silence was palpable around the table. And then Jessica was quickly reminded Harvey's beloved mantra, "play the man, not the hand." There were possibilities on the table- depending what Harvey was holding- a straight, pairings or diamond flush. She would just watch him like prey hoping he would give something away. But she figured she had to rattle him somehow, something that wasn't in her typical wheelhouse.

Mike then revealed a Q of clubs and Jessica waited stoically for Harvey's next move. She had made trips at the table and was in a very good position. The anticipation was killing her watching Harvey. But she didn't move a twitch, wanting to reveal nothing.

"Raise, 15K" Harvey coolly slid the stack in front of him.

Jessica just rationed Harvey was playing the straight possibility, because he couldn't be holding more than a Queen because she had the other two. She saw right through him. Harvey was paying to see the last card on the river. But then she also knew there was the possibility of a bluff since he was the best damn bluffer she knew. Chances were, she had him.

Nonetheless, she could still feel the rush of blood invade her senses and instantly felt fired up inside. The heat was stifling.

And then it hit her; she was still wearing her trench coat since she walked into Jeff's place a few hours ago. Before Jessica made a move at the table, she decided to undo a button.

And then she undid another button.

And then another, and instantly Harvey's facial expression started to drastically change with each loop unfastened. Harvey looked baffled and slightly panicked as to what she was doing. Jessica could have sworn she could start to see him sweat in his seat.

"You know, it suddenly got _very_ hot in here." Jessica offered in an obvious yet deceitfully flirtatious way. The tone of sarcasm and slyness was evident, but its translation was not obvious until she shook the trench down her arms, all the way down to the chair.

Jeff ran a hand down his face in sheer shock and awe of the move. Jessica really was a mind playing the boys like little puppets. Just when Jeff thought he had Jessica figured out, she pulled this little sexpot move and he found himself riled up and impressed with her use of the element of surprise. Jeff ran his fingertips down the expanse of Jessica's exposed back, sitting back in his seat playing with her skin. He couldn't resist touching her anymore. She didn't even look back at him; her eyes were on target…on Harvey.

Mike's jaw dropped for a second time in one night. He was sure he permanently lost the ability to speak seeing his boss exposed in such a lascivious manner. He was never going to be able to forget the dress. He was so screwed.

The cunning move revealed a very expensive, yet very suggestive dress, which blurred the line of couture and lingerie. The dangerous veil draped her body in a sheer mesh, strategically placed crystals and French-lace overlays, pouring over her feminine curves and exposing her flesh in a way that didn't allow for one to have to read between the lines. The dress was a mind bend to the senses. Jessica looked…almost naked. It was clear, there was not much else under the mesh fabric with exception to skin.

Jessica didn't yet reveal her hand, but she did manage to reveal so much more. With that,

she leaned back in her seat confidently, her arm against the backrest, shifted and positioned in a way which gave Harvey a better look across the table. The calculated move amped up the tension in the room before she made any decision to call Harvey's bet.

Harvey trained himself over the years to never let Jessica's beauty ever be a factor in their relationship. He couldn't look at her that way because it could be dangerous to dance around the forbidden line for him. With the power Jessica already wielded, her accomplishments, her clout, and just her general demeanor and sensibilities, adding her beauty to the equation would be devastatingly difficult for Harvey to process on a daily basis. It was better to just let her be and admire her through the lenses of professionalism and friendship.

But this, this was something else. This was nuclear mind-warfare.

Harvey's eyes travelled briefly down the expanse of her neck, down the trail of exposed flesh of the plunging neckline and circled at the slight exposed curve of one of her breasts, which was hidden behind the thin lace and luxurious patterns of sparkle. And without a word he reciprocated her body language, leaning back in his seat in a similar way before calmly breaking the silence in the room with a joke, "Isn't that the same dress you wore on Monday?"

It was all Harvey could do, make a joke to disarm her blatant strategy to rattle him, and pretend to be unaffected.

But he felt the stir below the table.

And when she let that arrogant chuckle leave her lips in response, Harvey knew he made the right move.

His control was annoying the hell out of her. Jessica challenged Harvey to the final round by baiting him into a battle of who had the bigger metaphorical balls, and by the looks of her _sheer_ tactics, Harvey knew she thought she had him by the balls. That was until he didn't bite the bait and continued swimming those dangerous waters – circling her - to make a move of his own.

And so Harvey pushed again, "What do you want to do Jess?"

"Call." Jessica moved a stack of chips to the center of the table.

And that's when Jeff saw it, the spark in Jessica's eye. It was ever so subtle when she moved the stack of chips to the center of the table and called her protégé across the table. Jeff filed it in the back of his mind. Maybe it was nothing but he still saw it and he couldn't un-see it. When he heard the final card flipped from the deck he focused back to the final reveal on the river.

It was an A of diamonds.

Harvey was first to talk. He didn't waste anytime. He knew he had her.

"All in."

Jessica wordlessly called, left with just a few thousand in her arsenal. She was in a strong position. It was the right call.

"Let's see'em, Jess."

"You first."

Harvey shook his head and then tipped his chin in her direction, "Ladies first, I insist."

"Well…" Jessica sat up and reached for cards as she continued, "…if love is blind, than greed is insatiable." Jessica flipped her cards and revealed her queens proudly as she continued, "How does it feel to be in bed with three ladies, Harvey?"

Jessica bit her lip in anticipation. She was pretty sure she had Harvey and was just awaiting a big reaction from him in his inevitable defeat.

And then a charming smile crossed Harvey's lips, which travelled to reach his eyes. As soon as Jessica observed the twinkle in his eye, her face started to fall. Something was coming. She knew him well enough to know _that_ look.

"Almost as good as bending them over a table made of diamonds…" Harvey revealed his 8 of diamonds and 10 of diamonds. He was holding a diamond flush, beating Jessica no if, ands, or buts about it. "…Sorry Jess."

Mike laughed out loud at Harvey's crassness. It was a good line; almost good enough to be a movie quote. Jeff just looked at Mike and he instantly stopped laughing. He knew Jeff could snap him like a twig, even if he put up a fight.

"You're an asshole." Jessica huffed stoically and very evidently annoyed. She was sure she had Harvey. She was positive he was bluffing. The son of bitch chased the flush.

"Guess it's true what Gordon Gekko said, ' _Greed is good'_ " Harvey nonchalantly shrugged. It was beyond exciting and he knew she hated when he boasted.

Watching Harvey stand up and collect his cash off the table pissed Jessica off to no end.

"You just couldn't help yourself could you Jessica?" Harvey continued his rejoicing at her defeat. That was until he stumbled on his words.

"You wanted to beat me that…" Being ambushed by Harvey in front of his underling and her man was enough to bring Jessica to her feet, consequently revealing the full number on her body in all its glory. "…that…bad?"

Harvey noticeably swallowed hard, flustered to no end. He bent over the table and placed his palms on the green velvet, still somehow managing to spit out with full volition, "Who, uhhh… who has who by the balls now, Jess?" The tight smirk pulled at his cheeks.

"Don't kid yourself. You chased the hand. You had shit before the river." Jessica methodically mirrored Harvey's body language and challenged him, which caused Jeff and Mike to just bounce their eyes from one to the other.

"Doesn't matter how I got there, I got there. Besides, _this_ little move you pulled…" Harvey indexed with his finger, referencing Jessica's dress, "…fruit from the poison tree. _THAT_ was evil."

Jessica smiled. Then she tilted her head coyly to the side. Her palms were still on the table, when slowly offered, "Guess I did have you by the balls, after all."

Harvey didn't respond. It was a strategic move of respect toward Jeff.

Oh but he wanted to respond so badly.

It was getting into dangerous territory with Jessica. When it was charged like this between them, it was an inexplicable balance of the forces of nature. No person could ever reach him like that and unhinge everything within him the way Jessica did. For a moment Harvey forgot where he was, who was in the room, and the fact that Jessica was a taken woman. He just wanted to grab her, crash his mouth onto hers, pull that dress over her hips and throw her up on the dining room table she was leaning over.

His greed to have her in every way was almost painful in its necessity, trapped in the small compartment of his body. That was the thing with greed, it was a bottomless pit that could exhaust a person in an endless effort to satisfy without ever really reaching any sort of satisfaction. And Harvey was sure he would never be satisfied after the events of this particular evening. He wanted her, bad. Jessica was his weakness, she always was. His greed was conundrum. Even if he was lucky enough to get with Jessica and make something of it, he would never be fully satisfied. He would always somehow want more _from_ and _of_ her.

So Harvey straightened up, necked the rest of his scotch, and smugly nodded without a word, placing his suit jacket back on his body.

Harvey decided to add some negative ions to the potentially explosive situation by outstretching his hand to Jeff in a sign of respect and gratitude, man-to-man. Jeff shook it congratulating Harvey's defeat, to which Harvey responded, "Next time… my place, and no girls allowed. Mike get your shit, let's roll."

Jeff let out a half-chuckle and agreed to the invite, leaning on the chair in front of him. Harvey was an ace in Jeff's books; he earned his respect. Jeff's stare then went to Jessica. He watched her straighten up and roll her eyes petulantly at her loss and the boys banding together against her. But there was something more to her rigidity, as Jeff silently observed. Jeff still didn't completely understand their dynamic. He knew the bullet points of Harvey and Jessica's history, but nothing close to the whole story. Maybe she was just a bad loser, especially considering how far she went for the win?

As Mike passed Jessica on his way out to follow Harvey, who was already at the door, and very endearingly offered, "Goodnight Jessica. Don't be mad. You still look really hot. Don't tell Rachel I said that." She laughed at the kid, as she patted his cheek in appreciation. As much as she hated to admit it, she had a soft spot for Mike. She watched as he high fived Jeff. He reminded her so much of a young Harvey. Mike caught up to Harvey who was now leaning against the front door coolly, hands in his pant pockets.

But it wasn't until Harvey called out a general send off from he foyer, that Jessica turned to the doorway to say goodnight to Harvey. Something didn't feel right after their last exchange.

"Goodnight. Enjoy the rest of your evening you two." Harvey sounded like himself, but the look he gave Jessica with his final nod…it pulled at her insides. He looked sad for someone who just pulled off a major win. She meekly smiled at Harvey just before he shut the door.

He was gone.

"Sooo…you want to talk about it?" Jeff asked Jessica with her back still to him. She was still staring at the door, unsure of how she felt inside after everything. She was bothered.

"About what?" She let out in frustration. Turning on her heel back to the poker table she continued as she passed Jeff, "The fact that I got my ass handed to me tonight? Or that I was practically naked taking it from the most arrogant man on the planet? I'm never going to hear the end of it, ever."

Jeff grabbed Jessica by the wrist as she whisked beside him and cutely placated her with an "Aww, you're a bad loser, Jessica Pearson." She easily moved into his arms as he slid his hands around her waist, holding her loosely, running his hands against the delicate fabric of the now infamous dress. Jeff always did make her feel really good.

"Yes I am. It's because it so infrequently happens." Jessica pouted, playing with the collar of Jeff's shirt, but she couldn't look him in his eyes, afraid she would reveal what…sadness, annoyance, frustration? She wasn't even sure with what she was left with after the showdown with Harvey.

Jeff knew exactly how to get her mind off the loss. So he started his decent just under her jawline placing the first of many soft kisses. Through his journey of sensual movements against Jessica's skin Jeff offered, "For the record…" He placed a kiss on her throat "…what happened tonight was epic." Jeff moved his mouth to her ear and placed a kiss just beneath it "You dominated that game." The breath of his words in her ear sent goose bumps down her body as he whispered, "It was so sexy."

"How much did it turn you on?" Jessica flirtatiously asked, as Jeff backed her against the kitchen counter top and then responded with a tight grind against her body pressing his manhood against her body, as though it was enough of a response, "You tell me?"

 **•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸Outside the Door¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•**

Harvey stood at the stoop for a few beats before he headed for the car, his hand still on the doorknob. He just couldn't quite let go.

He was 60K richer, but he felt really empty in the victory. After all was said and done, the real prize was behind the door he just closed.

He rationed he would never really know when he would be dealt the next winning hand when it came to Jessica Pearson. Tonight he got lucky. And with luck, came greed. He needed to do it again, except next time he would lay his cards out on the table.

But right now, he just had to let go because it wasn't the time. It was late.

And with that, Harvey headed for his Town Car.

 **•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸THE END¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•**


	6. Lust

**[A/N: So…I decided that Chapter 6 will be the _lustful_ musings of Jessica and Harvey. The title really speaks for itself, not much else to add for back-story. The chapter is intense and probably NSFW, fair warning. Rate R or M for VERY MATURE subject matter. I own nothing. Reads and Reviews are very much appreciated. They give me creative life. Thank you for everyone who has stuck around.** **We're getting there. Here we go…Enjoy!]**

 **(¯`·._.·(¯`·._.· The Seven Sins- LUST ·._.·´¯)·._.·´¯)**

"Harvey, what are you still doing? I sent everyone home hours ago." Jessica's voice floated over the abnormal silence of the 50th floor of the firm, so abnormal that there was even an echo in the expansive space. Jessica rested her hand on the glass panel of the Partner's Boardroom watching Harvey methodically sort through a box of documents on the table. He was clearly at it for hours. The one side of the expansive table was covered in folders, boxes, and important documents.

Harvey opened a folder as he responded nonchalantly with his back still toward Jessica, "Earning my paycheck" His eyes scanned a document in his hand as he flagged it with a tab and placed it in a pile on his right.

"In case you didn't notice, there's a blizzard outside. I told everyone to work from home for the remainder of the afternoon and into tomorrow. Go home!" Jessica playfully bothered him.

A major storm hit the east coast causing New York to shutdown in preparation. The storm was anticipated to drop at least three feet of snow, threatening to cripple the east coast, which consequently caused Jessica to make the call to let everyone work from home for the next 24-48 hours. It had already snowed for over ten hours, and it wasn't going to let up anytime soon. The streets were barren; no traffic, no cars, no people. The million dollar views of the Manhattan skyline in the offices of _Pearson Specter Litt_ were now nothing more than a gentle violet glow filtering through the dimly lit offices. The office, like the streets of the city, were a ghost town, with exception to Harvey and Jessica who seemed to still be manning the helm, refusing to believe even mother nature and her forces could keep them from their responsibilities.

"Can't. I have to go back through discovery and I am not bringing all these boxes home. Besides, I'm not going to make Ray drive in this, it's not right." Harvey lightly offered, now smiling at her charmingly, "An all-nighter never killed anyone."

There was a playful glint in his eyes, which didn't go unnoticed by Jessica.

Harvey was still clad in his navy three-piece suit. It was after hours and the need to keep up appearances was irrelevant when the entire firm cleared out for the evening, yet Harvey still looked as sharp as he did that morning. It almost made Jessica want to roll her eyes consistently at him, but with a smile because he amused her to no end. Besides, she would never tell him out loud but she loved a man in navy.

"You know we have an army of associates who can do this for you. Doc review is below your pay grade." She sassed as she finally sauntered into the room, her black two-piece skirt suit still immaculately pouring over her curves as she moved toward him.

"Yeeeees…but none of them are here since you decided to send them all home. And the law waits for nothing, not even _Snowpocalypse_. Wait a minute, why are you still here?"

He finally eyed her…skeptically.

"I didn't want to ruin my shoes in the snow." She dryly offered, which earned her an exasperated look from Harvey forcing her to give up her real reason as she moved toward Harvey and the table. "I had a pile of work to do. Lately it's just been coming at me from everyway. Between the cases I still take on, strat and business planning and the bullshit between the partners, it just doesn't stop. No sleep for the wicked or whatever it is that they say, I guess." Jessica shrugged and averted her eyes to a folder on the table, as she flipped through the papers.

"People in glass houses…" Harvey offered, as she too was there to do work, while she told him to go home…typical.

Jessica chuckled at Harvey's response adding, "Yeah well, what can I say, we're cut from the same cloth. You need some help?"

Her warm orbs swept back up to his face with a small smile, offering him the extra hand despite the pile of work still waiting for her. Jessica figured it was a rare occasion for them to spend time one on one anymore, so she took the opportunity. The work would still be waiting for her. Besides, she still had all night.

"Pull up a chair." Harvey extended the invite, smiling at the woman who always seemed to surprise him in the most random ways.

Harvey and Jessica spent a few hours digging through evidence, making a good dent in the boxes, finding some good leads, which Harvey was going to get Mike to explore the next day. It was the least Mike could do considering Harvey was doing associate work. As Harvey and Jessica worked, they discussed the possible angles for execution and potential moves to land some punches for a sizeable settlement.

Harvey couldn't help but muse it was nice to have Jessica all to himself again, to bounce his strategies off of. He missed the days where he and Jessica discussed case strategy and other lessons of life, when he was still just her mentee. When Harvey was younger he lived for the moments when they would have one-on-ones, when things were easier. The stakes back then were never as severe as they had been in the last few years. He used to love showing off for her and to her. Harvey knew it always amused Jessica to no end, which was why he also knew that Jessica considered him her known quantity at the firm and everyone knew it too.

But Jessica stopped treating him that way a few years ago.

As Harvey evolved in his seniority, the distance allowed for Harvey to find his own way as a partner, as a mentor, and even now as a leader at the firm. What Harvey missed most about those times was Jessica's unique ability to assess at the speed of lightening without making skewed assumptions and conclusions. She connected the dots like no one else he knew. With just a few questions and statements, she could make him think outside the confines of the average corporate lawyer. Jessica always made Harvey extraordinary, pushing him to always outdo the next move. Harvey's intelligence and swagger was all his, but Jessica was the spark to his stick of legal dynamite.

Even now, working on his case, she already had a handle on how to move it along, and it only took her a few hours and a sift of a few documents. Her mind still fascinated him to no end and how it all came together. She lacked nothing in Harvey's eyes- her brilliance, her aptitude, her demeanor, her attitude and even her humor- she had it all. It was in these moments that he was most attracted to her.

A few hours in, they decided to take a break.

Harvey came back to the boardroom with a bottle of his finest scotch, and anything else he managed to raid from the fridge and cupboards from the employee kitchenette. They couldn't order food because everything was shutdown, so an office picnic had to do. It was just what they needed.

Harvey and Jessica were so relaxed in their state that they almost forgot they were working that evening. Harvey had his feet up on the table of the boardroom, leaning back in his seat his head thrown back in the ruminants of a chuckle that Jessica brought to his lips with his scotch tumbler clutched within his lap. Jessica sat perpendicular to Harvey, her legs elegantly outstretched resting on Harvey's armrest with her ankles crossed ladylike which Harvey didn't seem to mind. Her stilettos really were too good to ruin in the snow, she wasn't kidding. If Harvey was being honest, the red-bottomed stilettos weren't exactly appropriate for the office, but he wasn't going to tell that to Jessica. He would just file the comment away deep in his mind, only to be revisited when it was safe to do so in the confines of his mind.

Both had made a good dent in Harvey's decanter of scotch, evidenced by their relaxed body language, easy conversation and fits of banter and laughter. They always managed to have too much fun with one another when the world wasn't crumbling round them, or watching them for that matter. The noise of their day to day was deafening. They were always putting out fires or stopping some emergency threatening to bring down their firm brick by brick. Its like the sirens never turned off. But tonight the world was silent for the first time in a long time, thanks in part to a winter whiteout. Snow always somehow managed to halt the chaos of the world, which it covered. It hid the imperfections, silenced the mundane and routine, and made everything that much more beautiful for even a short period of time. And Harvey always did love snow days.

"Ok enough fun. We should get back to it." Jessica asserted as she placed her tumbler on the table, eager to help Harvey finish so she could get back to her own pile of work. She shifted in her seat slightly, elegantly attempting to bring her feet back to the floor, to which Harvey instinctively reached for her ankle, interrupting the movement as he asserted playfully, "Five more minutes." His head rolled in Jessica's direction and gave her a boyish grin, truly not wanting to end their play date.

The delicate contact of Harvey's fingers against the patch of skin, covered with the sheerness of her black nylons, caused Jessica to fault in her persistence. All she could do in that moment was make a joke to diffuse the electricity she felt surge through her insides.

"If that's your best negotiation tactic Harvey, I think I may have promoted you too quickly." Jessica jested with a crooked smile.

"No, my best tactics are how I command a room, my way with words and my winning smile. Wouldn't you agree?" He flirted, wanting to get Jessica to continue to play, the brush of his fingertips now gently drawing circles against the silkiness of the nylon covering the hollow spot just under Jessica's ankle.

"Harvey you should finish. You have only nine more boxes to go. Besides, I still have a pile of work waiting for me at my desk."

"I won't keep you if you need to get to it, but Jess…" Harvey halted his busy fingers as he continued, "…we have all night. Who's rushing us? Besides I'm here to help return the favor. Stay for five more minutes."

"I need to sleep sometime."

"What happened to ' _no sleep for the wicked'_?"

"Ok fine." Jessica playfully conceded to Harvey and his persistence to keep her attention for a few more minutes. He was right, that smile was a great little tactic, as were his fingers, now working in a gentle knead of her ankle. It felt like heaven after a long day of towering in those Louboutins. But Jessica would never tell Harvey that, especially considering his last few moves spread warmth through her insides. His attention to detail really was spellbinding.

"Let's just sit here for a bit." Jessica closed her eyes, throwing her head back in a state of relaxation, reaching back for her tumbler to rest her long manicured fingers and enjoy the moment, as Harvey occupied himself satisfied in his small victory.

Just as Jessica started to relax a bit, she let out a huge sigh right from her core in an attempt to control the currents running through her body of how good Harvey was making her feel physically. She could still feel Harvey's eyes on her, even as her hooded lids shielded her bliss. It wasn't until a wayward question floated from Harvey's lips, deep in its suggestive tone, that Jessica snapped back to reality.

"Want to play a game?"

"What kind of game?" She eyed Harvey skeptically knowing that whatever was going to come out of his mouth was going to be inappropriate. This situation was already inappropriate.

"Ever play 'plead the fifth'?"

"No, what's that?"

"Basically we ask each other a series of questions- any topic, any format, anything goes-but you can only "plead the fifth" to one of the questions. Winner is determined by who has the balls to answer the full series of questions. Needless to say the bragging rights are pretty epic."

"That's a horrible idea!" Jessica animatedly offered, laughing in his face at his boisterous suggestion. "Besides, I'm not drunk enough." Jessica finished with a dry truth as she shifted from her relaxed position, feet now firmly planted on the floor, turning her revolving chair back to the table.

"Well that's an easy enough solve." Harvey moved swiftly and poured her a generous refill.

"Ok enough!" Jessica snickered and shook her head at his immature response. She dropped her eyes to the tumbler and took a bit of pause, at first baiting Harvey and her own curiosity as she considered his proposition. "What happens if there's a tie?"

Her lashes now swept up to meet Harvey's dark probing gaze, the mischief was still ever pervading as he slowly responded, "Thennn you keep going until some pleads surrender. You game?"

"How detailed of a response do you have to provide?"

"The game is based on the principles of the law. So, as the law is precise, the responses must therefore be precise. Now, keep in mind compound questions are allowed, as long as they are issued before the response. You can't ask a follow-up or it will be counted as a new question. Make sense?"

Seemed rational enough… but very dangerous.

Jessica deduced that they already knew so much about one another- some things acknowledged and other held close to the vest- what were a few more secrets between friends? Besides, the temptation of having the bragging rights and having the opportunity to make Harvey uncomfortable intrigued her to no end.

"I feel like I'm going to regret this." Jessica took a generous intake of scotch for liquid courage and tried to offset the currents still surging within her. She needed to be clear of nerves to beat Harvey as she agreed, "Ok, swear me in but Harvey, behave yourself."

Harvey chuckled at the quick quip and angled his chair away from the table and back in Jessica's direction, leaning back with a comfortable bounce. His thighs were slightly spread in a confident coolness as he offered with a lean and gallant gesture, "I am a gentleman, so you can ask me the first question."

Jessica mirrored Harvey's body language as she slowly crossed her legs and rested one of wrists along the edge of the armrest as her other hand lifted her tumbler off the table and aerated her scotch making small circular movements as she mulled over her strategic approach. Her eye contact refused to break as she stretched out the moment, hoping to make Harvey sweat a bit. "Can you describe for the court the circumstances and details of the last time you were _visibly_ turned on at work or at a work function?"

"Swinging for the fences Jessica. You must be a lawyer." Harvey teased, "Just for clarity, you want to know about the last time I had to chop wood at work?"

Jessica choked on her scotch as she held the glass to her lips consequently bubbling it in the glass. Once she gracefully recovered, all she could do was confirm with an "Uh huh."

Harvey cracked up and through his laugh began, "Last week's Morales' deposition…you busted out the Spanish. The roll of those R's…did things… to me. I knew you were trilingual- English, French and Spanish-but knowing it and hearing it were two very different things. Let's just say I wasn't prepared. It was so damn sexy."

"Come one, you've heard me speak Spanish before Harvey. Don't be dramatic!" Jessica tilted her head to the side, dismissing the desire that laced his words and making light of facts rather than the undertone of Harvey's response.

"Never. Believe me, I would've remembered!" Harvey arrogantly smirked, "Your turn." And wiggled his eyebrows jestingly.

Harvey could always make Jessica smile, even in the most uncomfortable situations.

"Why do I have the feeling _all_ of your questions will be sexual?" She said more to herself and to Harvey as a defense mechanism.

"Because you know me well, and I will not squander an opportunity. Now, Jessica Pearson…what is your favorite sexual position and kindly describe for the court why it is so?"

Jessica shook her head at Harvey, rolling her eyes at his predictability. The move was so transparent; the pressure to plead the fifth out the gate or make her so uncomfortable for Harvey's amusement.

"Is that a plea?"

"Is that a follow up question? You just burned through two questions Harvey."

"Nice try on the fine print. I didn't burn any questions because you didn't verbally respond to my first question. So I reiterate or you can take the fifth."

Jessica sighed defeated, "My favorite sexual position is…dependent on my mood. But generally, I like it up against a wall or on top because I like to control the experience."

"Not surprising." Harvey arrogantly shrugged as he sipped his scotch.

"Excuse me?" Jessica bit back.

"Women on top tend to like it on top, in my experience." Harvey was goading Jessica, putting her on the defense and generalizing her in a category amongst the multitudes of his women.

Jessica didn't like it, not one bit.

"Are you saying I am predictable between the sheets?"

"Are you sure that's the question you want to ask me? After all, it is my turn."

"You are so annoying."

Harvey chuckled at her juvenile response, loving how he could irritate Jessica so easily. It always gave Harvey a little bit of pleasure because it meant he could affect her and it gave him hope that the strings he tugged on were tied to something else.

Jessica methodically took her time coming up with her next question. She intended to disarm Harvey a little bit before attempting to make him plead the fifth. She was determined to win, especially considering the personal nature of his little game. "What part of a woman's body do you like to take your time with when you have her within your hands?"

"Great question! I've never been asked that before." Harvey offered enthused, then took a sizeable gulp of his scotch. "It depends on the woman. But what gets me going is when I have a woman's legs spread in front of me. If you know what you're doing…which for the record, I do…" And then Harvey's voice dropped a few octaves, as it appeared he was visualizing every word coming from of his mouth, and he was somewhere else. "…I like to take my time and make her writhe within my hands. First she'll start to convulse and spasm and then buck her hips for more, and that's when I like to give a good, firm, grip to the thighs, hold them open with a little pressure and let the orgasm tear through her while she's within my hands. When you can feel the motions within in your fingers it's a very powerful feeling. But I don't always give the Spector treatment to every lady. In most cases, it's a self gratification process."

Jessica felt hot instantly watching Harvey express himself with his hands and words. Suddenly, she had the urge to squirm and readjust within her seat at the feeling between her legs and tightness of within her abdomen listening to Harvey's salacious musings. But Jessica didn't make a move, besides the dry swallow in her throat. She was stilled in her determination to not let him see how affected she was by just his words. With a cold control she followed up hoping to probe Harvey a little more in his tactic. Was it just sexually sculpted words or a glimpse into the psyche of the man who had fascinated her for almost twenty years? She decided to probe a little further inside Harvey's head, "So sex is about power and self gratification for you?"

"Is that another question?" He sounded almost pleased.

"Yes."

Harvey smiled as he responded, "The cheap thrills definitely are. But truth be told, lately, its felt a bit transactional. I've developed a bit of a Valmont complex. Even with the handful of women who meant something to me through the years…I don't know how to describe it exactly. Its like we were playing into some preconceived fantasy, like they…or I was trying to live up to this elevated myth of what it should be or what the relationship should feel like because of who I was or who they were. I think that's why they all fizzled. Some piece of the puzzle was missing. Don't get me wrong, I've had some good times but somehow… if I'm totally truthful, I'm left a bit unsatisfied, which is why I think I chase the thrill. So to answer your question, yes but no."

Harvey's thoughtful response floored Jessica.

Maybe this game wasn't such a bad idea after all? But what was it that was missing for Harvey? Jessica's ego had to know. Her superiority complex had to know. Her inner vixen just had to know what it was that bored Harvey from bachelorhood. Jessica took a swig of scotch and simply stated "Nice _Les Liaisons Dangereuses_ reference."

"I thought you might like that." Harvey laughed and scratched the back of his head. "Your turn. You get two questions since you got to ask me two. Let's see… ever had a steamy love affair and been unfaithful?"

"I can honestly testify that no, I have not." Jessica paused and looked at Harvey with a smile on her face, proud knowing what her response would mean to someone like Harvey who held loyalty above everything. When he smiled back at her, all knowing she saw through the question, she continued, "I have never stepped out on my partner, even as a young lady. I always tied up all my loose ends…even in my slutty college years."

"Jessica!" Harvey laughed feigning shock at her self-deprecating humor and dryly adding with a shrug, "Me too!"

They both erupted laughing. "Who are you kidding? You're still slutty Harvey!" Jessica said through her laugh.

"True story. Ok, enough horsing around, back to business Jessica. I have a funny feeling you may plead the fifth to this question."

"I will be the judge and jury of that. Shoot!"

"Have you, do you, or could you ever have romantic feelings for me? I know you are fond of me, and value me, and blah, blah, blah, but I want to know the gritty stuff. No bullshit."

"Harvey, come on!" Jessica shook her head and her eyes went to the tumbler in her lap as he interrupted, baiting Jessica, "Remember you can always plead the fifth and I would be none the wiser. But some could say you were too scared to…" until Jessica's eyes locked on Harvey's as she answered, "On some level, I guess…maybe there are…feelings. **_BUT_** I have to look at the bigger picture and put other priorities in the forefront. Besides, there are too many loose ends for it to ever work in my opinion. It's an exercise of will power, maturity and responsibility, which is why I know you ultimately see things the same way I do, because we respect the complexity of it or this would have went to hell a long time ago. Bottom line, you and I work better being everything else to one another except that."

Jessica watched Harvey process her methodical words, and noticed the hard swallow in his throat at her candor. Their eyes remained stilled on one another as Jessica offered up her next question in the game, "Now, your question is simple Harvey. What do you think of my response to your last question?"

She had another question in mind she had already prepared but it was only fair that Jessica would put Harvey in the hot seat and feel the sear of the hot coals beneath their simmering words of delicious truth telling.

Harvey cleared his throat, wanting to buy some time to gather his thoughts before he responded. The truth was that he wanted Jessica and had felt this way for sometime but he knew he was never in a place where they could come into a serious commitment as Harvey had been climbing and finding his way. He recognized Jessica deserved only the best version of himself. It would be the only way it could ever work.

 _"_ Well Jessica, I think it is very short sighted of you to sweep the topic up so clinically and assume you know how I feel. Ignorance has never been one of your strong suits. You were once able to look at me with a long-term vested interest, and lately all you have done is just seen the immediate. It's like you lost faith in me on some level of what's still to come. I'm curious to know if you again allowed yourself the opportunity to think long term, but not just of me, but of us. I'm curious if you could see this big picture through a different lens, like I do. Ideally, I would want you to take one more gamble Jess. Roll the dice, one more time. You took a shot twenty years ago and we've both been better for it. I still think there is more to our story, but that's just my opinion. So you see, I don't ultimately see things the same way."

There was a definite shift in the room as they broached the forbidden musings. They both averted their eyes and took a sizeable gulp from their tumblers. The only sound in the room came from whistle of the high force winds, fifty floors above the world, blowing snow in mesmerizing patterns. Both Harvey and Jessica just stared out the window for a few moments processing the somber lustings of their words. The truth was now out on the Partner's boardroom table for the taking. But they both decided to say nothing more on the topic.

Decidedly wanting to lighten the mood and go back to the frivolity of their game, Harvey coolly offered, "Soooo…Do you want to keep playing?"

"Yeah." Jessica shortly confirmed still not able to look at Harvey.

Surely anything would be better than his awkward moment.

"Ok, well good. Let's see…I got one. Who's the last person you sexually fantasied about and give me the details? What got you off?"

Harvey offered that last part with a flirtatious growl, which made Jessica snicker. The last series of questions were very heavy and Jessica decided to play a little bit with Harvey. She let a flirtatious smile cross her lips as she began telling Harvey her little story.

"Well, there was this thing my _partner_ did on this one particular day a few months back that I just couldn't wait to get home and well, you know…"

Jessica sat up in her seat a little straighter, and her eyes closed as she motioned the next part. Her hand ran down from playing with her décolletage of her blazer, down the length of her torso as she continued, "I closed my eyes, ran my hand down my body and started to move to the same rhythm of the thought of him using his smart-mouth, which drives me crazy in reality, to drive me over the edge in my fantasy."

She opened her hooded eyes to see Harvey's eyes widen with every word of her suggestion. "All I kept picturing was me spread across _your_ desk, lifting my skirt over my hips, higher and higher, gripping it in such blissful desperation, a breathless wave washing over me while being serviced by…"

"Say it Jessica, stop playing with me." Harvey was memorized by the fantasy, enough so that he brought the last of his drink to his lips, polishing it off in his state of frenzy and disbelief of how graphic and detailed she was in her response.

That was until Jessica finished her thought, "…Louis."

Harvey spit his drink and Jessica lost it laughing. She clutched her mid-section, heeling over in her chair in her intense laugh.

"That's not funny Jessica! You just made that up! I will take that as a plea if you don't give me the real answer."

Jessica continued to laugh through her response, "Oh, come on Harvey, give a girl a minute!"

"Are you pleading the fifth? Do I win?"

"Ugh…okay, okay…the last person I fantasized about was a stranger. He was a really sexy bartender…young…oooh. Anyways, it involved a bottle of champagne, his beautiful mouth and being bent over a bar. I didn't even know his name. Happy?"

"That's quite the visual!"

"Yeah well, so was me and Louis on your desk! I just laughed so hard that I think I just orgasmed." Jessica still chuckled as she stood from her seat to retrieve a tissue to touch-up her eye make-up, laughing so hard she teared to Harvey's dismay.

"Believe me, if I ever gave you an orgasm you wouldn't think, you would know...and you wouldn't be laughing…." Jessica stopped dead in her tracks as she walked down the length of the room away from Harvey.

"…You would barely be able to put a coherent thought together." She slowly turned back to face Harvey and the boldness of his words, only to be met with an arrogant look across the room.

"You sound awfully sure of yourself."

They always had a competitive spirit, pushing one another's boundaries, and their sexual baiting session was no exception. And at that moment Jessica figured she would go in and drop the gavel. For sure Harvey would plead the fifth to her next question, inspired by his last statement and her boldness.

"Ok, fine Harvey, let's see how sure of yourself you are after this one. If I gave you permission to do one thing, and one thing only, what would you want to do to me right now? Give me the Harvey Spector treatment. And be very… _specific."_

Harvey observed Jessica halfway down the room. Her body language was allusive in her stance, her right hand rested on the edge of a boardroom chair, the other on her jutted hip. But her face was neutral in its expression. She was so controlled in her last challenge that it made it difficult for Harvey to decipher the exactitude of her agenda. Harvey ran a hand down the lower part of his face contemplating her last question. Where exactly was she going with this question?

"Is this still part of the game, or are you actually giving me permission?"

"Depends on the answer." Jessica shrugged and tilted her head suggestively; surely Harvey didn't hear her correctly but she wanted to see if he would submit and plead at her inquiry.

"I want to touch you..."

"That's the Specter treatment! Really?" Jessica interrupted with a wry chuckle and a small roll of her eyes. She could not believe that the man whose sexual mythology preceded him would be so bourgeois in his methods of seduction.

"I wasn't finished." Something shifted when the tone in Harvey's voice seriously dropped and caused their eyes to deadbolt.

Harvey came toward her, slow.

He unbuttoned his blazer jacket. He removed it off his body in the few short steps he took. He was unwavering in his slow pursuit down the length of the boardroom.

With each methodical step he took forward, Jessica took one back.

The distance quickly closed between them, both in actuality and metaphorically.

Jessica's back hit the lacquered teal wall of the boardroom.

Harvey was determined to be within her space before he told her the truth…of _how_ he really wanted to touch her.

Without even placing a hand on her body, Harvey filled the negative space between their bodies. He braced his hands against the wall, one by Jessica's waist and the other just above her head. Seizing the opportunity he just created, being closer to her than he had ever really physically been before, Harvey decided to take it one step further and see if Jessica would still be as cavalier once he finished his thought.

He hoped she would finally get his message.

Harvey spread her thighs apart with his knee, and as she moved with him reciprocally. He pushed his muscular thigh as much as he could against her taught pencil skirt, settling between her legs and pinning her between a metaphoric rock and his now very hard place.

Her palms pressed flat against the cool wall, looking to grip something, anything, which could help keep her grounded at Harvey's close proximity. Jessica could feel his face come close to the side of her face, his nose running a gentle tease against her cheek and jaw. And when she felt his soft lips graze her skin for the briefest moment, it was enough for her to close her eyes at the sensation. That brief moment led his lips to the hollow cartilage of her ear. She could feel Harvey's breath dancing a patterned echo through her as he whispered his wants.

"I want to touch you… not just physically… but within the dark places of your mind…" Harvey angled his mouth right by her ear, his voice no longer gently teasing in a disguised whisper of his lust for her. It was assured and dripping with desire, deep and absolute "…within the places you lock away from the rest of the world. I want to reach the places where it _aches_ to be Jessica Pearson."

Jessica stopped breathing for a second when her mind began to compute what Harvey just breathed against her skin, and the magnitude of his words.

This wasn't part of the game, not anymore.

Harvey was absolutely and completely resolute in his response of that she was sure. And when Harvey's perfect lips found that place just below her ear, placing a flutter of spellbinding kisses, he continued through them, "I want to touch you until there is no _you_ … or _me_ …but in _that_ place where there is a _we._ "

At that moment Jessica felt the buckle in her knees, where it all seemed to start unlock within her; her resolve, her resistance, her excuses. If his words could make her unhinge, she couldn't imagine what his hands, mouth and body could do.

Harvey felt the involuntary shudder without even yet having put his hands on her body and it ignited him. For the first time in a long time, he felt that elevated feeling of being on the precipice of greatness, where he would breakaway from the mundane moments he alluded to earlier in his response to Jessica's question, and walk the fine line of rapture and chaos with the one woman who meant more to him that any other person walking the earth. He hoped his words were enough to make Jessica see how much he desired her, how much he needed her, and how consumed he truly was with her.

He was finally there, with her.

When Jessica finally regained the ability to hear again, after the rush of blood to her ears, which pulsated at deafening levels for a few seconds, she surrendered to Harvey's words in her mind. Harvey brought his mouth to her luscious lips, now parted as she attempted to take in as much as air she could muster. Jessica's body instantly started to react to her mind's surrender. Her heart pounded against her ribcage, causing her chest to rise and fall noticeably in anticipation of what was to come.

Harvey's words literally took her breath away.

And just before Harvey placed his lips to hers, mere centimeters apart, he asked, "Do you trust me?"

To surrender at the deepest depth, as she did at that moment, she knew it would be with the one person who truly ever had a power over her; the one who touched her heart, mind, body and soul. Jessica knew she couldn't fight it and herself any longer. She was so tired of the years of pent up energy, the circumstantial explosions of compressed electricity veiled in the excuses of work, professionalism and competition. They were futile excuses that helped her cope with the real issues of her feelings. They were just tortious, nonsensical, coping mechanisms.

All she could manage at that moment was a simple nod for her response. Their lips brushed against one another in her fluid movement.

"Say it." Harvey grinded harder against her hips, causing Jessica to take sharp intake of air; he was so hard already but he needed to hear it out loud from her lips. What he had planned for her involved trust, because once Harvey touched that place within her, he knew everything would transform from what they once knew of one another. Harvey needed to know if Jessica was willing to go down that rabbit hole with him, because he already knew he would never be able to walkaway from her, and he needed to know she was with him all the way.

"Yes." Came the breathless whisper that Harvey waited for in his deepest fantasies, when Jessica was just a figment of his imagination and she played with him in the devil's playground of his idol mind. But this time she was of flesh and blood and Harvey wanted to give her everything in him.

Harvey enveloped Jessica's lips with the softest, most torturous kiss he ever laid upon a woman's mouth. Her breaths echoed through his lips as he tried to seize her essences and drive her to the point of loosing control. He wanted Jessica to not just want him, but need him, because it was exactly how he felt about her. He needed more of her and fast, but tonight was not about him…it was about them.

With his lips motioning soft ministrations against Jessica's mouth, Harvey ran one hand behind Jessica's head, his fingers entwining in her ebony locks and the other now clutching her waist. The sensations of now having her within his hands caused Harvey to vigorously push his mouth against Jessica's lips, prying them open with his tongue's tidal ministrations. The force inadvertently crashed Jessica further up against the wall that her back was already pressing hard against. Harvey's hand behind her head protected her from the abrupt impact; the thud of his hand was the least of his worries.

Jessica responded to the lustful move with the same vigor. They were now like two forces of pent up energy waiting for the moment of combustion. The build up caused Jessica to start the quick work of taking Harvey's buttons apart of his navy vest, then ripping apart silky fabric of his tie from the perfected knot letting it hang loose around his neck, at which point they separated briefly for some much needed intake of air. Harvey rested his head in the curve of Jessica's neck, the hand in her hair tugging her head back to open her neck up to his mouth. Jessica responded with a sharp intake of air, while her fingers mindlessly worked the small buttons of his dress shirt. One by one the buttons came apart. The dexterous motions were the only sense of reality she had as Harvey's mouth caused her to feel like she was in two different places at once. Jessica's mind was flooded in arousal as the grinds and pressures of Harvey's body and mouth along her skin set her on fire. The currents that coursed through her earlier, just by Harvey's words, were now ignited by the spark of his body pressed up against her. She tugged his dress shirt out of his trousers swiftly and tore it off his shoulders, desperately wanting to touch flesh.

Harvey stepped away from Jessica for a moment. Jessica was already falling into her learned behaviors of taking control and Harvey was determined to give her a different experience that night. Breaking away momentarily to remove himself of the offending items, Harvey undid his cufflinks, and watched Jessica as she leaned against the cool wall collecting herself, albeit slightly perplexed. He watched her every move and when she reached for the first button of her blazer to begin her undress, Harvey commanded, "Don't. I've waited twenty years to undress you."

Jessica slowly removed her hand, understanding the wicked game he was playing with her. Harvey's vest, dress shirt and undershirt hit the floor, but he left his black silk tie around his neck, hanging loosely against his pecks, brushing the waistband of his slacks. His smooth chest was taught and his obvious controlled breaths caused it to rise and fall in the most memorizing pattern, which caused the muscles in his abdomen to contract visibly with each breath. It strangely soothed Jessica's nerves.

Harvey came back toward Jessica and tipped her chin up with one finger, then running the finger down the length of her neck; down the skin of her exposed chest, finally hooking the fabric of her blazer. Each undoing of button, shifted her body into the motions with the deliberate tug. Harvey exposed her French lace black bralette, the thin veil of fabric barely covering her perked mounds of flesh and taught nipples, erected by the subtle teasing drag of his fingertips against her skin. His hands dragged along the mocha skin of her shoulders, down the length of her arms, spreading goose bumps over the expanse of Jessica's exposed flesh in his deliberate tease. Jessica's desire was elevated to such levels that she couldn't control herself to Harvey's teasing methods of exercised control. When her couture hit the floor, her eyes, hooded in a state of lust. Her gaze settled on Harvey's lips then back up to his now darkened eyes, full of lustful desire. The feeling was enough to cause Jessica to grip the fabric of her pencil skirt and begin tugging it up over her thighs, revealing the black thigh-high nylons and subtle peek of the garter belt grips.

"Jessica…" Harvey let out a desirable warning in her ear, stilling her movements. When his teeth tugged at her earlobe she let out her first moan in pleasure and sweet frustration.

"Harvey, touch me." Jessica demanded giving into her instinctual carnal whims, but her hands stilled on the fabric of her skirt in Harvey's warning tone.

"You won't seduce me so easily Jessica. Tonight, I seduce you."

Harvey spun Jessica around and pulled on the gold zipper on her backside quickly, tugging the skirt off Jessica's body in one quick motion to the floor. Jessica braced her palms to the wall, her nails attempting to dig into the smoothness of the lacquer unsuccessfully, as her back arched in response to Harvey swift movement.

Harvey moaned in appreciation of the visual in front of him as his hands began to slowly trace the arch in Jessica's back and curves of her body in this very compromising position. Giving her small waist a firm grip as he ground his cock, still within the confines of his trousers, between her legs where he really wanted to be. Jessica leaned back into the movement and reached behind for Harvey's head for leverage. She began to move her arched hips against him in subtle grinds, needing to feel him even if it was at the pace of honey dripping from a great distance above.

The seductive move earned Jessica a masculine growl in her ear. It was primal and it was the sexiest sound Jessica had ever heard a man make. If the sound was any indication of his desire for her in this moment, the motion of Harvey's head falling into the crux of her neck and sharp bite into her flesh would have aroused her suspicions even further. Jessica tugged at his hair instinctually to pull him up from the spot and kissed him instead with the full force of her mouth. Their tongues battled one another, as Harvey's hands worked her breasts. He made her veins hum and her heart rate rise to levels she was almost concerned about. She needed to pace him, never having a moment this crazed in desire and anticipation in her entire life.

Harvey could again feel the beast of Jessica's control issues being rattled, as her mouth gave him every indication she wanted to reign the situation once again. This would not just be another sexual escapade either her or him. Harvey knew sex involved the body, but great sex involved the mind.

So, Harvey let her go once more and took one step back away from Jessica.

"You're not hearing me Jessica."

Jessica took a deep inhale and looked over shoulder at Harvey and wordlessly inquired _what the hell he was doing?_ Her eyebrow rising as she turned to now face him, her hands on her hips over the couture of her garter belt, head slightly tilted in inquiry.

"Are you going to do this my way? Or do you want to plead the fifth Jessica?"

Jessica let out a small huff of a laugh at Harvey, "I don't plead for any man."

Within a few short steps Harvey grabbed her by the waist and neck and returned his mouth back to Jessica's lips, giving her every indication of how much he wanted her. Harvey's tongue rolled though Jessica's lips and sensually began to write the story of what was still to come. Leveraging the hand now behind Jessica's neck to trap her within his virile grip, Harvey guided her to the edge of the boardroom table. He placed Jessica's body strategically at the head of the table, which was her usual seat at a Partner's meeting- her ceremonial throne so to speak.

"We'll see." Harvey growled against Jessica's mouth.

Harvey then decidedly began to explore her body, releasing Jessica from the covered confines of her elegantly lascivious lingerie, still strategically leaving the pieces on her body for better grip for his planned rapture. He played with her upper body for sometime, using his hands and mouth as his tools of tease.

Separating from Jessica's body briefly, Harvey wordlessly ran his silk tie from around his neck and Jessica watched his every movement, assessing what he was asking her for without even a word. Jessica really wasn't lying when she said she did like to control the experience.

Jessica extended her wrists in front of her body, closing the gap between her perched form and his assertive position, as her permission for Harvey to tie her up. But, there was a slight problem with Jessica's assumption, to which Harvey responded with a deep chuckle at her skewed assessment. Harvey shook his head at her and negated Jessica's assumption, as he came closer to her body. Harvey placed his palms flat on the table, one on each side of her hips and he leaned in, just close enough to Jessica's ear, and said with a leveled baritone tone, "Tonight, you are in my hands Jessica, and they will never hurt you."

Jessica placed a warm palm on Harvey's lower abdomen, her fingers grazing to the seam of his trousers, outstretching her nails as she led her fingers down to trace the outline of Harvey's cock, and then back up. Harvey's sharp intake of air and involuntary flinch at the contact brought a small smile to her face, knowing how affected he was by just her touch and the electric state they now found themselves in.

Her eyes traveled up along the lines of his taught chest finally meeting Harvey's eyes.

"I told you Harvey, I trust you."

And with that statement, Harvey kissed her again and drew out the motion. He ran the silkiness of the tie's fabric through his fingers and separated from Jessica.

"Close your eyes."

The goose bumps that spread across her skin in the entirety of her body, was so obvious that Harvey could see it even in the dimly lit boardroom.

Gently, Harvey ran the binding object around Jessica's eyes, taking away one of her senses, which he was sure would heighten her experience of pleasure and help her reach those dark places he was so desperate to touch. Only then would she really be his.

But Jessica still needed a tangible connection to Harvey, now plummeting into a darkness completely unfamiliar to her. Jessica could now feel every move of Harvey's body around her. There were strange vibrations that filtered around her. In her slight moment of panic Jessica reached for him, and quickly found Harvey's chiseled chest under her fingertips once again. Harvey stood so close to her that his manly scent, the ruminants of his cologne, mixed with the scotch on his breath, instantly became more apparent when her ability to see was taken away.

Harvey's hands rested on Jessica's thighs and then swiftly travelled up through the silk and lace of her lingerie encasing her curves. His thumbs settled just under her breasts, his big grip now cradled around her ribcage, just before his deep and sensual voice gave her one more instruction.

"I am your eyes now. I want you to see through my eyes, feel through my hands, and hear through my words. Can you do that?"

"Yes." Jessica astutely responded, curling her body toward him, arching her curves with a wordless plead to be kissed once more, tilting her head towards his mouth.

Harvey brushed his thumb across Jessica's lips, feeling the soft plumpness of the lips that drove him crazy for years. Her matte lipstick still stained her lips, and the berry shade was like a piece of fruit Harvey wanted to continue to savor. Jessica sensually snatched his finger within the folds of her lips, nibbling and running her tongue a along Harvey's finger, the lustful move caused Harvey to close his eyes and muster all his self-control. He praised the gods she couldn't see what the simple move did to him because he knew Jessica would be his undoing.

Harvey used the one hand that was still locked around her chest and pulled her off the table to a standing position. He made his first command of Jessica, "Open your legs."

Jessica slowly stepped apart, still in her garters and stilettoes, balancing herself on her fingertips on the lacquered table behind her. The anticipation was killing her. She couldn't see, but she could feel. She could hear the small details in his voice, the husk and desire smoldering in his demands. The moisture between her legs was now skimming her thighs, causing her mocha skin to glisten in the places where it could no longer be contained. When Harvey slipped a hand between her thighs, she clenched at the foreign feeling of his grip against the fabric of her panties. Jessica was shocked and in a state of awe of the reality they found themselves within, but she was so turned on that she could feel her pulse between her legs, which travelled up into her torso, and came out her lips in a deep moan. Harvey moved the fabric of her panties aside and moved his fingers into Jessica within the slickness of her feminine folds. She took a sharp intake of air and exhaled a moan of pleasure. And when Harvey pressed his palm against her clit and rubbed languid circles on her flesh, two fingers deep inside her it sent her body into a state of flux, enough that she bucked her hips against his palm, needing even more pressure and friction from him. His body was so close to hers, and his breaths along her face and neck were the only sense of reality she still had to the motions her body was riding.

Jessica was so turned on that it felt like her skin continued to blaze on fire and the only hope to extinguish the scorching coals within her were to ride a wave that Harvey was building within her. And when she heard Harvey's deep baritone voice coax her along with "That's it…just like that Jessica…" she could start to feel the active build of density within her muscles below her waist. The shift in Harvey's voice was like he was possessed with desire, worshipping at her alter of femininity.

Jessica was compelled to give in, not to the man, but to herself. She deserved it after all the heartbreak and loneness of her life. She was breathless, just for him, within the walls of their kingdom and she no longer cared. Consequences be damned. If it felt this good, then none of them mattered. She had never been more wanted by a man in her life, of that she was sure.

As Harvey worked against Jessica's body, the darkness against her eyes started to transform. At first she saw stars. Then, they started to rush toward her, as though her body was propelled at the speed of light. The rush of blood pulsated in her veins and her quick breaths surely fed her adrenaline and excitement. As Harvey's fingers curled more and more against Jessica's opening, pushing further and pressing tensions to build an explosion of energy, it teased a promise that coursed through her veins and through her synapses, that Harvey was prepared to fully explore every part of her that night…body, mind and soul.

Jessica began to feel light headed and just when she realized why her body halted in momentary lapse of ecstasy, she exploded in her first orgasm, throwing her head back of Harvey's quick work of her body. But Harvey continued to work Jessica's through her orgasm, slowing down the pace when her legs gave in and she leaned back for the support of the table, her upper thighs trembling noticeably. He moved slowly in and out of her, tortuously so, as Jessica breathlessly came back down, still moaning deeply in pleasure at his long and slow strokes.

When Jessica felt Harvey slide his fingers out from within her, she used the opportunity to regain control over her breathing, but only for a moment because when she heard the unmistakable smack of Harvey's lips and guttural moan of pleasure around his fingers, savoring where he had just been, Jessica smirked using her imagination of his beautiful lips taking pleasure in taking her in.

Harvey kissed her-slowly and sensually- trying to calm Jessica's breathing back to a place where he could do it all over again. Harvey pulled Jessica by the waist, closer to the ledge of the table and she leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders. Harvey used his other hand to spread her knees so that he could get closer to grind into her body once more as he pressed himself into her teetering body.

"How was that?"

"So good, Harvey."

"Good. Now, lie back for me and bring your legs up on the table. I'm not done with you yet."

Jessica gracefully lay back and did as she was instructed. The constriction of her abdomen caused the already pulsating muscles to react all over again causing her a flutter within her torso, taking a deep breath to try and calm it down. Her long legs came up as per Harvey's instruction, together at the knees like a lady slightly tipped and balanced on her stilettos.

Jessica instantly felt Harvey's big hands grip her ankles with some force, which he then ran up the length of her long legs, slick and smooth against the silk of her nylons. It was almost fluid. And when his hands tipped over her knees, he gripped her insistently at the thighs and then playfully bit the sculpted flesh of her outer thigh, causing Jessica to let out a surprised high pitch. But it wasn't until his teeth gripped at the edge of one of the thigh highs, snapping it in a playful sensation that Jessica flirtatiously giggled at his taunting session. Harvey's thumbs then dipped between the close of her legs, burring them as far as he could grinding them within the confines to tease Jessica. Harvey used a little pressure and Jessica's legs began to open, causing the build up of desire to start to spread through her body. Her every nerve ending was hyper sensitive to Harvey's anticipated ministrations, acutely aware as her eyes remained shielded to the reality in front of her. Harvey buried his head between her legs, still covered in the confines of her expensive La Perla's and kissed her over the fabric. Jessica was so wet that Harvey was in complete awe of his affects.

He took his time teasing the silkiness of her skin in the exposed patches of her inner thighs, lapping Jessica up where he could. After all, it was all his doing so it only seemed fair. Harvey's abrupt tug of her panties within his fist caused a friction that made Jessica gasp against the now tender skin. With a masculine tug Harvey pulled Jessica to the edge of the table by her panties. Harvey sat in Jessica's boardroom seat, determined to be her undoing before he fucked her to an inch of her sanity, as he was slowly starting to lose his mind at what was happening between them. Harvey's movements became more abrupt and sinfully tense, knowing the stakes of the moment were increasing with every minute between them.

Harvey perched Jessica's long legs on his shoulders, resting them down the length of his back. But when one stiletto dragged inadvertently at the shocking feeling of his tongue running up the full length of her folds, it caused Harvey to sharply inhale at the painful scrape. Harvey took the pain in stride, burring his mouth against her, kissing her clit and lips with the most torturously sensual pressure. If Jessica's involuntary dig was any indication, Harvey was savoring all the right places to release her as he promised.

Harvey's motions began to lap at the deepest parts of Jessica's mind with his sinuous strokes, skims, and tantalizing speeds as he wrote poetry in a language Jessica had yet to translate. Harvey spoke in tongues against her. Not resorting to using his hands this time, Harvey moved within her confines to tell her a story using a language, which required to be etched through her skin. And when he spoke, she responded back.

Harvey set a blaze within Jessica. He lustfully tortured her with bold ignitions and then quick swallows of the same heat back into his the belly, then repeating the process all over again lapping another fire against her. Jessica could feel her legs start to spread wider over the table as Harvey's mouth began to discover new parts, which made her pulsate at the sensations. She could start to feel the heat build within her, causing her skin to glow in a thin veil of sweat at the toll of temperatures Harvey was dousing her with. It was like he put a fever within her. With each breath becoming more and more shallow, Jessica's chest began to rise and fall at a rate that became unconsciously concerning to her because her body began to act in its own volition. Her arms extended over her head, her back began to arch off the boardroom table, and her hips started to roll into Harvey's mouth.

Harvey latched one of Jessica's knees and gripped at her other garter belt holding her thigh to still her movements as she was starting to again fall back into her old patterns of control. Harvey held her down and allowed his story to be told, because if Jessica skipped a few chapters on her own then he would have failed. Harvey was determined to reach those places where Jessica had to fight herself to explore, and where no man before him had reached. With a woman like Jessica, those men had one end goal and that was to just get her off by any means as a boost to their little egos, even if she had to help the process, but not Harvey.

Harvey wanted to hollow those places out within her and fill them with love. Only then would he be able to touch the places no man has ever reached. He wanted to scorch those dark places and imprint himself within her. The power in that would be that Harvey would live eternally within Jessica's heart, where no man before him or after him ever could. Jessica would be molded only for him, enough so that no man after him would even be a thought or temptation. That was the piece that Harvey alluded to earlier, the piece that was missing with every other woman before Jessica.

The silk of the tie shielded Jessica's eyes from the darkness of fear. For the first time in a long time, she let go of all that plagued her, of all the binds that held her feet to the ground in her cemented resolve and determined structure. Jessica let go and let Harvey unchain her mind. He managed to undo the padlock on her heart. Jessica let Harvey fuck her with his mouth until she felt it in her soul. Harvey built up a force within her from the bottom up, rolling a wave of lust through her so powerful that it folded within every crevasse and forced every hard edge within her to whittle down, only for him. And when she sang his name on her lips breathlessly though her uncontrolled moans and hisses at Harvey's rapturous musings along her skin, Harvey knew he almost had her.

He almost had all of her.

Jessica rode the orgasm until every part of her body lost its resolve and she arched off the table, lifting herself up to a sitting position now convulsing in euphoria in the sweetest torture not onto this earth, by the man who was quickly becoming the author of her awakening. Everything was quickly becoming spiritual. Her chest heaved in desperation to take in as much air as she could, as her abdomen shuddered in Harvey's aftermath. Harvey's tongue still drew languid patterns along her folds and inner thighs, his grip on her hips still forceful and possessive, but the gentleness of his motions massaging her flesh was bliss. Jessica's fingers ran through Harvey's hair, moving down his chiseled jaw to bring him up to her face.

"Feeling powerful yet Harvey?" Jessica whispered through her labored breaths.

"Not yet. Ask me when I'm done with you." The lust in his voice and the movements of Harvey's perfect lips against her neck electrified another surge through her body, amping up for what was still to come. Harvey was right, gifting her with an orgasm made it very difficult to put a coherent thought together. But Jessica couldn't help but muse somewhere in her mind that she couldn't wait for the time to return him the favor.

Harvey unbuckled the garter from around her waist and methodically snapped the belts off her thigh highs, instructing Jessica to lie back down on the table as he tossed it to the floor. Doing as instructed, her legs dangled in a state of divine exhaustion. Jessica's thighs still quivered in her gifted orgasms and in anticipation of Harvey's outstanding promise. Her body was covered in sheen of sweat as she sensually ran her long elegant fingers over her breasts, down her torso and settling a hand between her legs, to calm the contracting pulse of her body, consequently giving Harvey a show as he disrobed in his finality.

And when she heard the zipper of Harvey's trousers come down in the now silent room, the anticipation and stakes were now at stifling levels. Now laying in a short state of calm, Jessica lay dripping with desire, lusting at just the thought of Harvey entering her, not knowing his arrival would spark a backdraft within her, unlike every other man before him who simply calmed her fire.

Harvey wordlessly lifted Jessica's legs straight in the air. Her calves were level with his face as he playfully nibbled over the silkiness of her nylons, as he pulled her panties over her hips up the length of her legs. He slid Jessica closer to the edge of the table and opened her thighs. And when she felt the tip of his velvety cock tease her wetness for the briefest of seconds, gliding across her sensitive folds, Jessica let out a moan and snap in her hips trying to capture more of Harvey, which elicited an expletive from Harvey.

Harvey pushed within Jessica and they had finally had one another in every way two people could. Jessica wrapped her long legs around Harvey's waist, locking them in the most intimate position, while her back arched off the table and her nails dug into the edge of the table. She held the table for dear life because she knew once Harvey started to move within her all bets were off for control of her own body.

Harvey moved slowly at first.

His long and methodical strokes pushed deeper and deeper until his sizeable cock was buried fully within her, flesh to flesh.

Harvey held Jessica there for a moment.

He allowed himself to feel the moment.

Twenty years of unrequited feelings, which morphed into so many different facets, manifesting into a singular moment, which had enough content to be story onto itself. Harvey recognized that it felt like what he had suspected all along; what he had fantasized about and what he dreamed about for years. He gripped her waist, allowing his hands to settle there as he observed the woman beneath him, as he accepted that Jessica even had excessive beauty inside her. It was a piece of her that pulsated with a beautiful darkness, which he too saw in himself many times in the mirror. It was as if two parts of the same roamed the earth looking for one another. He could feel it through her, within her.

The intensity of the moment constricted within Jessica as Harvey's paused in his motions.

Jessica finally accepted and realized how much she really needed to be released from years of telling herself she had to be perfect to deserve to have it all- including reckless passionate, nonsensical love. Jessica told herself she had to concede this type of passion because it was dangerous. It was disarming. It was not for people like her. Jessica's desire for Harvey was more than just the desire for an epic fuck. Jessica wanted to write poetry against his body and the notes of a song against his skin. She waited decades for this man, to evolve, to grow, to align all the pieces within his insides, before she could ever give into her long awaited fantasy. Jessica loved him inexplicably before she even really knew him- enough to take a chance on him decades ago. There was always something in his eyes, something that connected to her inner sockets and wired her a different way. But right now, she couldn't see. She could only feel.

The pent up energy that was trapped in the compartment of her delicate vessel of a body was vibrating around Harvey and his cock. And when Jessica breathed, placing her hands on his arms, gently urging him to move within her, Harvey almost lost it in that moment by her simple touch.

"Please Harvey, no more games. I'm yours. You're mine. Fuck me."

With every stroke against her body, Harvey could feel Jessica began to free herself from the limiting confines and rigid walls she had put around herself for years. Her body caught up to the words on her lips. They were trapped by the magic, suspended by a delicate bind, which weaved its way through their insides and tied knots around their hearts. Harvey was spellbound by the sheer feeling of releasing that darkness from within her. Harvey pushed deeper, needing more, riding the high, which seemed to pulsate around them; deeper and deeper until he physically met his limits skin to skin. Harvey pushed into Jessica with the unrelenting thrusts from his hips, until Jessica could start to feel the stir in her belly from his rhythm and his deepest penetrations. She lifted herself off the table and ripped at the limiting blindfold, pulling it down her face until it hung loose around her neck. Jessica needed to see him now because Harvey clearly was looking within her.

Jessica's eyes met Harvey's haunted glare and there was a flash of lust not unto this world. When the dark and lustful look invaded their eyes, they knew they were about to free one another's souls. They were in the rapturous midst of releasing one another's demons; all the darkness of their insecurities, their shortcomings, and pains of their pasts because the way they touched one another was perfection.

The look was dark, predatory, and deliciously dangerous which made all Harvey's hairs stand on end. All of Harvey's synapses fired off in a storm of overload when Jessica clutched Harvey's neck and kissed him through her breathless words.

"Yes, just like that." Jessica's words circled around him like hungry wolves moving in for the kill. She held a power over him and Harvey decided at that moment if he was going to make this a moment for the ages he had to hold on for just a few moments longer. Harvey lifted his knees to the table kneeling against the hard surface above Jessica's body, adjusting her legs over his shoulders, with her back flat against the table. Perched over her, Harvey drove mercilessly into her, pushing deeper and deeper within the confines of her body.

The new angle was a steady ramp up of built up force, now on the precipice of combustion, where it all unhinged and caused a pouring of confirmation Harvey was dying to hear out of Jessica's mouth. Jessica answered the unspoken question Harvey didn't even have to ask, _if she now belonged to him?_ When he heard the repetition of the simplest word of "Yes!" over and over, engulfed around them and weaved within her gasps and short bursts of breaths, Harvey knew she was on the cusp of no return.

Harvey had soaked Jessica in the kerosene of his words, and now lit her on fire, a blaze so big it caused a backdraft throughout her body as she came violently within his hands and ministrations. Harvey had done what no man before him done – he had silenced her mind- while making her body scream with pleasure.

Harvey knew that Jessica wasn't the woman a man was to save. Jessica needed to be found and appreciated for exactly who she was which she strategically hid from the rest of the world. Harvey had released a part of her and now there was a part of Jessica made just for him. It was a part that Harvey vowed he would always protect as it now belonged only to him and that was a powerful feeling.

Harvey lost his resolve when he felt Jessica shudders and tremors around his cock. Her beauty beneath and around him and the sounds of the songs of pleasures around him caused him to explode within her; a force so intense Harvey collapsed over Jessica, latching his mouth to her neck in his breathless final thrusts and heavy breaths. They both trembled beneath the weight of realized lust threatening to compress their insides by the sheer magnitude of what occurred between them a few short moments ago. All that was left of them was the outer shells of their bodies, begging to be filled again, only to be released within one another's confines once more.

Their lips met once more. This time it was slow and adoring, a serene exploration of the aftermath. This time it was like they were different people almost needing a reintroduction. Harvey rested on his forearm on the side of Jessica's head and his eyes bore into hers, his hand stroked the delicate skin of her neck and face.

"Hi."

"Hi."

"I see we lost our blindfold…" Harvey tugged on his tie now hanging around Jessica neck, the tail resting down her chest.

"We did." Jessica confirmed absolutely, and then added with a flirtatious jest still slightly breathy, "Aren't you so glad _we_ did?"

Harvey smiled down at her with a huff of laughter on his lips at her giddiness, "It's a good look on you." Harvey's thumb grazed over her lips as he adoringly caressed Jessica's face. "You know, some people could view that as a plead because you didn't follow through on my simple instruction Jessica."

Jessica kissed his palm and shot back, "Nice try. As I recall your game involved questions and not instructions so it doesn't count. No one won, yet." An arch of her brow sassed the man above her.

"Didn't they?" A giggle left them both at what just transpired between them and how they were already back to busying themselves in a competitive to-and-fro.

"Fuck, that was…" Harvey growled wanting to bring them back to where they just came down from. He brought his head down to Jessica's neck and placed a series of sensuous kisses just below her jaw, eliciting a satisfied moan as her hand ran through his short hairs just above his neck, enjoying the blissful exchange.

"I know." Jessica confirmed his exact sentiments with a big sigh. But she couldn't help herself when she asked Harvey once more, "Feeling powerful yet Harvey?"

"You may be waiting a long time for my answer." Harvey offered adoringly.

"Why's that?"

"Didn't I say ask me when I'm done with you?"

"Oh, you wanna go again?" Jessica smiled at his prowess, not expecting where Harvey was going with his next response.

"I do but, the thing is, I'll never be done with you, Jessica…." The look between the two of them was enough to have to say no more on the subject. Their lips met once more, until Harvey jovially continued, "…so I don't think I'll ever really ever be able to properly respond to that question which means, I gotta plead the fifth."

Jessica gasped in joy and gloated with a big grin, "I win!" Her fingers grazed over Harvey's cooled, yet dewy skin of his chest, "What's my prize?"

"Me." Harvey asserted with that classic cocky grin.

"I was hoping you would say that. My turn…"

 **THE END**


	7. Sloth

[A/N: Chapter 7…The last one on the list, which I hadn't given up on it just took a while. And with Chapter 7 comes the end. Thank you for sticking around, for the fantastic enthusiasm of your reviews and amazing feedback. I appreciate every read. This one is a FLASHBACK chapter, just like the show and how they like to throw one of those in there. I thought it may be fun to see some backstory of a more intense and driven Jessica as a Junior Partner and Harvey in his earlier years at Harvard. It is complete an utter conjecture of the back-story of Harvey at Harvard, his laziness and Jessica's contrasting hard work and sacrifice. Takes place some time in the mid 90's (throw back!). For the official disclaimers, I own nothing and all belongs to the USA network. I merely like to play in the sandbox. Enjoy!]

( ̄`·._.·( ̄`·._.· The Seven Sins- Sloth·._.· ́ ̄)·._.· ́ ̄)

 **sloth**

 ** _noun_**

 **1**. reluctance to work or make an effort; laziness.

Harvey said it to himself every time and this time was no exception. As God was his witness, he was never going drinking again! Everyone knew the words to that particular mantra when it was too late. Futile attempts for self-motivation he recognized, but that warranted too much thinking for his current state.

But like clockwork every Thursday night, after Torts class, which was the last class of the week, he found himself at the local dive pub having an early start to the weekend, where the debauchery of booze, women and bullshitting was a marathon and not a sprint.

Harvey knew the moment he would open his eyes, his attempt to control his hangover would be over, and this one was going to be hell. God, he was thirsty! He rationed he would just roll over to the cool part of his bed and curl up in the crispness of the covers. Was it raining outside?

The rain started pouring down and pounding forcibly against the windowpane above his bed. Five more minutes…he had no-where to be and the weather was his indication that his plan of action was warranted.

Forty minutes later, the bells of the ringer on his rotary phone woke him from his 'five minutes'. Harvey attempted cracking one eye open.

He didn't die.

He figured that was a good sign of his current state, so he attempted the second eye and looked over to his alarm clock. 2:17pm.

Shit!

That's what he had to be up for… he had study group at 1:00pm. Ah well, he'd just bait Scottie into some scheme to get her notes. If that didn't work, he'd find some charming way to get to those notes…and Scottie herself.

Harvey slowly hulled his body, which seemed to have transformed into lead somewhere in the middle of the night, out of his bed, one foot at a time, drawing out the process as much as he could. He sat at the edge of his bed, in a seemingly philosophical position, as though he was contemplating the formula which made the universe go round, when in fact his mind was as blank as an empty canvas. Everything felt so heavy and trudging as his curled his fists and pushed himself off the comfort of his bed, just for the sake of getting some water and painkillers into his system.

His sweat pants were twisted in the wrong direction, as were most of the ends of his hair, one side matted right to his head. Harvey rubbed at his face and his small eyes, having to stop in his tracks to regain his balance. His head was spinning.

Jack Daniels was definitely not his friend that afternoon, but it he was definitely his buddy when Harvey was rounding shots at the bar with a pretty lady and her friends.

Harvey muddled around his studio apartment, still drunk after the debauchery from the previous night's events. His mind was heavy, hazy, and pounding like a dull drum beat, a broken drum nonetheless, but it still made noise the harder one pounded at it, and his head was getting worse by the second.

Harvey reached the sink of his studio apartment and gingerly tilted his head under the tap and took in as much cold water as he could. The effort to find a glass was too much for his limited capacity at that moment. He splashed some water on his face and wiped his face in his t-shirt like a complete slob. Although, he was conscious not to pull at the t-shirt too forcefully as it had a series of tiny holes at all the seams and collar, literally handing on by a thread.

Harvey shuffled, moving at the pace of sloth to the washroom to take care of his morning routine, with one added extra step; two extra strength Advil tablets to start the mend before he did this all over again that same evening.

Harvey dropped his heavy and sore body down on his leather sofa, and covered his eyes in the crook of his arm as he moaned in pain, trying to calm his upset stomach and screeching headache.

He decided to sit up as he was starting to get the spins lying on his back. The taste of Jack was out of his mouth, but not out of system. Harvey reached for his pack of smokes, lighting up hoping that sooth to his craving would allow him to settle his stomach enough to eat and absorb the acid build up in his digestive system. He was starting to feel better, convincing himself the pills were starting to do their quick work, slowing inhaling and numbing the cautiousness of his out of control insides.

Harvey was startled at the forceful pound at his door, which sounded like an amplified version of the thump in his head, but it was just infinitely louder and more domineering.

It definitely wasn't Scottie about to kill him for missing study group. Even when Scottie was pissed with him, she would just knock and yell at him through the door with some insult, which usually made him laugh.

Harvey groaned and commanded irritated, "Who is it?"

"Harvey… let me in!"

 _Oh shit, was that Jessica?_

Harvey immediately put out his cigarette in the closest beer bottle and started rummaging around his apartment in a panic.

"Uhhhh, just a second!"

In just a few steps he reached the front door, his tiny apartment hiding nothing about the disaster of his bachelor pad.

Harvey looked at his reflection in the mirror by this door and rolled his eyes at his terrible state. He looked like a mess. His hair was not coifed and his skin looked grey and gaunt. Harvey ran his hand through his longer, tousled blonde locks. Between the product and his sleeping on it unwashed, it molded to whichever way he set it. He smacked his face a bit to revive the blood flow and did some quick-panicked stretches. And when he stretched he sniffed at his pits, oh yeah…he needed a shower, ASAP.

Harvey ripped his t-shirt off in a panicked state and tossed it in his coat closet, making no qualms about the forceful shut of the doors as he looked for a new tee. He finally found a clean one out of the laundry basket on the floor by his bed, which not surprisingly, was also in a state of a mess on the floor at his feet, just like the man himself. It had been nearly eight days and he still didn't put his stuff away.

And to top it all off, he jammed his toe against the edge of the credenza on his rushed state back to the front door.

"Goddamn it!" he yelped as he winced at the sharp slice through his ligaments.

At this point, he thought 'whatever'; clearly Jessica had an important reason for dropping in on him. She probably would care less at what he looked like, and besides he was in way too much pain to overthink it. He figured he would just sit as far away from her cause he rationed he probably smelled like a combination of a keg of booze and last night's regrets.

"Harvey I don't have all day! I bill five hundred an hour. My time is valuable. Move it!"

The heavy wood door swung open and Harvey gave Jessica his most charming smile, which cost him a pang of sharpness in his head, right behind the eye in his attempt at over compensating, which didn't hurt as much as his pulsating toe.

"Good afternoon Jessica!"

Jessica stood at Harvey's door dressed in white silk blouse and navy high wasted wide leg slacks, but they were so long he couldn't see her shoes. Her legs looked thousand miles long. Her blazer was draped over her shoulders in an attempt to shield her from the rain. Harvey couldn't help but think she was such a class-act, almost regal in how she stood, possessing her clutch as though it was her scepter.

With a perfectly made up face and pin straight flowing hair, as though the rain deflected right off her like some goddess, Jessica's lips popped in Harvey's strained vision. Her lips were dangerously red and her eyes, as black as though they were lined in charcoal and her iris' hardened as though dipped in steel. All he saw were lips moving tightly as she commanded a response at his pathetic state, "You look like shit. Move!"

She had pushed past his futile attempt to hide the disaster of his apartment and palmed his door with her full force as she moved past him easily.

"To what do I owe…"

"Save me the pseudo charm. What the hell is the matter with you?" Jessica came at Harvey has she tossed her clutch and whipped her blazer off her shoulders like the cape of a superhero.

"What are you talking about?"

"This! You think I don't know what is going on with you here? You think because I am there and you're here, that I don't know about all the bullshit you've been up to?"

"I…"

"Save it!"

"But I ca…"

"Shush…"

"But you…"

"Quiet!"

Harvey noticeably rolled his eyes and flopped back on his sofa, lighting up a new cigarette.

Jessica shook her head at his indifference and complete disregard of her presence. She couldn't believe at the state she found Harvey in. He was a walking disaster. She paced back and forth in front of him, the only thing separating her from him was his ugly second-hand wood coffee table. Harvey was lucky it was there because she never felt the urge to strangle him more than she did at that very moment.

"I give you the opportunity of a lifetime and I come to learn that you are squandering your potential…"

"Aggghhhh Jessica! Enough, ok?!" Harvey growled. He really didn't need a reaming at this very moment, he felt like shit.

Oh, but he did.

Harvey was circling the drain, down a spiral to chaos, and the worst part was he was in a complete state of denial. He needed to be rung out and pinned out to dry and Jessica was the force of nature to do it.

"You want to try that again boy? You try that tone with me again, and it won't go well for you."

"You threatening me?"

"What part wasn't clear?"

Harvey picked a spot on his wall and stared a hole into it, avoiding Jessica's livid glare and arched eyebrow at his disrespect. He was starting to get rattled in annoyance and he was quickly going from zero to one hundred.

"Look at me when I am speaking to you, Harvey!" Jessica spit in a vile threat, commanding the respect she deserved after making the trek up to Boston to see him and being inconvenienced on her well-deserved weekend.

His eyes went up immediately to her sharp features, her eyes looked like they were now blazing in annoyance and fury. Harvey was yet to see Jessica lose control and he was strangely willing to push the boundaries to see that side of her, more for his own curiosity than anything.

"You're pissing everything away, Harvey. Every morsel that this place has to offer you! You are missing the opportunity to feast upon its greatness, to nourish you in preparation for your own greatness. I come all the way to Boston to find you here in his despicable state holed up like some frat boy douche lazing away your afternoon like success is a guarantee because you feel entitled! You want to be something? You want to do something with your life? Or do you want to go back where you came from? Because I can stick right back in that tiny little mailroom and you can call couriers all day and I will rack up my black card with your tuition on shoes, purses and really expensive suits. You're choice, Harvey. "

"Easy, Jessica..."

"Let me spell it out for you, since you're _still_ not hearing me. It. Doesn't. Get. Easier. Out. There!" Jessica spoke to him like he was a small child who needed it broken down real simple to comprehend what she was saying. The tone was simply antagonizing. "It gets a thousand times harder. What are you going to do out there when the real test comes? You think this is hard? Boy, this is kindergarten, when people are still wiping your ass and telling how special you are."

Jessica watched how agitated Harvey was becoming. She was definitely getting under that shell of easygoing Teflon Harvey thought he possessed.

"Whatever bullshit you're telling yourself to justify this deplorable state, Harvey this is a waste of my time, my resources and the well-deserved spot you took from someone else. Do you realize that there are thousands other people who would give up everything to be in the shoes you are in now? Get your shit together!"

"Look, I get it ok. It's just part of the experience, blow off some steam. I've been going really hard the last three semesters and I just need…"

"BULL SHIT! There is nothing wrong with blowing off some steam, god knows I did it too, but there is a fine line. And when your grades and quality of your work begin to spiral out of control like your emotional and mental state, that's a problem! This isn't blowing off steam anymore, this is the cusp Harvey."

"I always pull through on the exams."

"So what? Harvey, it's not about isolated greatness. Do you want to be the guy who just comes through, or do you want to be the guy who is so extraordinary that his reputation precedes him? You have the potential to be the guy who doesn't have to introduce himself, people just know. I see that in you and I see that for you. But at the rate you are going…god help you because I won't be able to, not anymore."

"Meaning?"

"After this semester, you're on your own if you don't follow through on our agreement."

"The 4.0 term?"

"That's the one. If you can't honor our agreement, the very nature of what all of this is about, I will renege on our deal. I mean it, I'm out!"

"Jessica, I get that you're pissed but it's only one semester and I can make it up in the long run of the weighted average for the GPA"

"I don't care! The dye will have already been cast and your reputation tarnished. You will have to work that much harder to re-build the faith in your professors, classmates, peers and _girlfriend_. You reflect on me because I have hitched you to my wagon, and god help you if you are not beaming as bright as me. I have plans and I need you to pull your shit together because what you do, reflects on me."

Jessica finally sat down on the black leather lazy-boy recliner perpendicular to Harvey and leaned on her thighs as she watched the shame wash over Harvey. Her tone became gentler as she offered, "I'm only going to ask you this once Harvey, and I need you to ask yourself this internally. You don't have to answer me out loud. Are you a man of honor? Of your word? Do you want to stand for something, or fall for anything? Because right now, as I am looking at you, I can see you are falling at a rate at which the lifeline I am offering may break from the force of the fall. I need you to put the breaks and start to climb back. I need you to look inside yourself, whatever these demons are that are holding you back, and decide if you want to fight for your life? Booze and easy women will only take the sting away for so long before you wake up at rock bottom and have lost everything."

Harvey just silently eyed Jessica.

She observed his eyes full of sadness, regret, and self-pity of the mess he put himself into. But there was something else in his eyes. Guilt? Loneliness? Brokenness?

Jessica had already explained many times to Harvey that whole point of Harvard was to become a greatest strategic thinker in their touch bases. Because Harvey had already had the rationale, intelligence, common sense, and logic as natural gifts, and Jessica knew these skills could not be taught. They were ingrained in a person right down to the DNA.

Harvey knew that the Doctorate from Harvard would only legitimize his raw talents. That, paired with his charm, charisma and likeability, he knew, deep down, with Jessica's reinforcement he could be destined for success. But for some reason, he had lost his way. He had lost faith, even though Jessica had always been there in the background, mentoring him on the way up.

Harvey could only keep his eyes on hers for just a moment before he leaned on his open thighs and reached for another cigarette in his state of anxiety and realization, offering Jessica one in the process.

They lit up and sat in silence for a few beats before she calmly and poignantly offered, "Chase the dream Harvey, not the thrill."

"I owe you an apology, Jessica. I didn't mean to disappoint you."

"I know. Why do you think I am here?"

"To collect an apology and bragging rights?"

"Don't get cute!"

"Geez, you don't let up, not even for a well timed joke. How about a movie quote?"

"Are you done?"

Harvey nodded, knowing she was in no mood to joke. Jessica was weirdly the most laidback, generous and kind person he knew, but reversely she was also the most intensely wound-up, meticulously cut-throat and focused individual he had ever laid eyes on.

She was a walking dichotomy sometimes, and a tad bit dangerous.

When Jessica had her eyes on her mark, its like she could not retract the figurative claws or fangs until the deed was done and she could again focus on the next target. But she was so quiet about it. That's what made her so dangerous. Jessica also had this unique ability to sense and shift through the energies around her. She could read a room and gauge a situation like no one he had ever met. She knew how to diffuse or amplify a room like ring master without the podium. Harvey noticed this trait because Jessica was the only person who could tame the beast of his ego within him and humble him to approach his methods from a different angle. To Harvey, it seemed like Jessica was the only person who could help Harvey clear the slate long enough to see past his inner anxieties. Having her in the flesh always did things to him and for him.

"I uh… know its no excuse, but I've just been dealing with some stuff at home, and the pressure just went up another hundred degrees this semester and I lost it...temporarily. But I promise I will get it back Jessica. In our next touch base I will square it away. It won't happen again. You have my word."

"Good. Harvey, you have to work twice as hard to have even a percentage of what _they_ have. You have to be extraordinary, not just good. Good isn't good enough, in the real world. Trust me on this one. It's painful sacrifice; its agonizing shifts in principle and values; its putting everything to the side to get to the end game; its leaving people behind; it's the brutal exercise of working your demons out in the courtroom or in the moves you make to bend people to your will. That's where you will work out all that plagues you. Just like in the real world, gun slinging and bullshit will only take you so far here are Harvard. You need to learn that now and not fall into _their_ traps of weeding out the weak. Because you are NOT weak, because I am NOT weak."

"Who's _they_?"

Jessica let out an all-knowing huff of a laugh as she inhaled the cigarette in her hand as she sat back and exhaled, _'Men like Gordon, Schmitt and Van Dyke'_ she wanted to say out loud so badly, but ever the class-act she kept it to herself.

Daniel Hardman, her ally and mentor showed her the list when he promoted her to Junior Partner (the youngest female Junior Partner at the firm) and cemented Jessica's loyalty and trust just a few short months ago. The ugly world became that much darker that day when she saw that starred asterisk by her name, and all the weight of what it meant. All of her hard work… second in her class at Harvard, Editor of the law review, her esteemed clerkship, not to mention all her scholarships in her undergrad and private schools before that, ALL now had a star beside it, like some footnote to her legacy.

Yes her father was an esteemed surgeon in Cleveland, heading up state of the art cardio research, and her mother a small business owner who was now New York society's messiah of catering and event planning, but even as a child in her advanced aptness Jessica knew that money was tight for a resident surgeon and small business owner. All the resources pooled into the necessities for the family and then into her mother's business. Jessica knew what sacrifice was, and she knew all the money her parents made went to the greater good of the family.

Both her parents were such driven individuals that it ultimately saw the demise of their marriage; they left each other behind to pursue their passions as individuals. Their marriage didn't stand a chance, because of who they were as people. And as a sixteen-year-old girl, when her parents divorced, Jessica grew up quickly seeing the world for what it was as a consequence of her parents' actions.

From that moment, Jessica realized that she never needed to rely on her parents, or on anyone for that matter, because she worked so hard that she never had to ask for a penny for her education from her parents. She did it all on her own, raw talent and brilliance. Her parents only knew she existed when it came time to celebrate her achievements, as proof of their greatness. But Jessica knew better. And in those moments, she honed her power and learned how to use her superpower to excel and advance, never having to wait for anyone or anything.

That was the sacrifice and the battle of the demons of loneness, jealousy and wrath Jessica worked through everyday on the inside when she worked case. She was always trying to outdo her last success, because it was never good enough in her mind. Jessica competed with herself, every goddamn day and it was exhausting sometimes. She would tell herself there was always a bigger settlement to make, a bigger deal, or a more underhanded move to outdo the other side.

Jessica fought for what she carried on her shoulders for years. She fought for the little girl who had no choice but to raise her younger sister, who as a child herself was responsible for another life when her parents were too busy to have worry about any sense of normalcy or routine for their young girls. They were never home, and yet somehow everything around the house got done. Jessica was so responsible in her young age that her parents never gave her a second thought. Jessica picked up Leah everyday after school, would take her to her scheduled extra circulars, fed her and helped Leah with her homework before she even started her own.

Jessica fought for that little girl who knew, even before her own mother, that her father was unfaithful to his family with a fellow resident doctor when she had visited her father one day as a surprise on his birthday at his place of work at the hospital. Unknowingly, Jessica and Harvey had that demon in common.

Jessica fought for that little girl who simply grew up too damn fast.

But at the same time, Jessica was so thankful for every experience in her young life because even as a young lady, she saw the big picture of who she wanted to be, what she wanted to do, and how she never wanted to rely on anyone or anything but herself. She wanted to be great, where no one would ever ignore her and who she was, ever again.

With driven parents, came driven children. And in all the sacrifice of her parents and of her own experiences, Jessica poured into her days at Harvard and everyday she showed up to the office, justifying that none of it was in vain. She would never squander her gift or her merit of hard work and where she came from.

Now sitting across from Harvey, as she moved to sit on his sturdy vintage coffee table, Jessica decided to give Harvey a life lesson as someone who also came from a humble, working-class roots, and who didn't know this world of the elite and their system.

The recent revelation of the asterisk reignited Jessica's focus; her need and her want to one day destroy those assholes because no one willfully took from Jessica Pearson, and if she could mold an ally in Harvey to stand up and fight the good fight, well she was sure as hell going to give him the same running start.

"Rich, privileged men who's world this _all_ belongs too. It starts here, Harvey. Before this, they were pampered children of other rich men. You and I had to leverage natural born talent and intelligence to even walk through the doors, never mind the grind to turn the marble into a masterpiece. You have no allies here. They have mommy and daddy and mommy and daddy's bank accounts to fall back on. But you have something else Harvey. You have me. You can choose to look at me as a benefactor; or a shareholder whom you are responsible to; or a pain in your ass; or even your future boss who you are currently clocking in for unpaid. Or you can choose to see me as your mentor to guide you through these treacherous waters. Because make no mistake, the rest of _them,_ well, they're just snakes in the grass ready to strike when suits them best. Remember you are on their territory. I will never placate you. I will push you and help you get the running start, but the sprint is up to you when they start to chase you. You may be the hunter, but this is their grassland. You do what you have to do to survive. Don't fall into the lured traps of distraction in their jungle-their parties, their booze, their drugs, their women and their trickery. You and I are the same in spirit, Harvey. The odds are always against us and they always will be. You need to pull it together or they will chew you up and spit you out and then wipe the corners of their mouths with their silk napkins. Do you understand?"

Jessica just watched how her words began to crank through his features. Harvey's brows furrowed gradually with every word from Jessica's mouth and there was an unconscious nod processing her words as he rubbed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose as the tension and weight of her words began to sink in. None of this was flippant or a game to Jessica, and quickly the same sentiment began to reflect in Harvey. Her ability to persuade her point, and manner of her arguments was spell binding. It was like Jessica's words danced under the veil which shielded Harvey's eyes and ripped it away like a strong gust of wind.

"I uh…I get it, Jessica. It won't happen again."

"Ok then. Now, why don't you go shower because _ew!_ Then I can help you get your priority list together and get you re-focused and back in the game."

Jessica said as she got up and made her way to his kitchenette.

"Ok, but I need to order a pizza first. I think I am dying."

"Go now for the love of god!" Jessica yelled at him irritated all over again. She couldn't look at him anymore in that deplorable state. "I will order the pizza."

Harvey laughed as he dragged his feet to his bathroom door. When she yelled at him, he strangely liked it, it made him laugh because of her attitude but also it made him feel like she really cared. And just before Harvey went into the bathroom, he offered in a soft and appreciative tone, "Jessica, thank you."

"Don't thank me yet. You still need to clean your place before we get started because I am afraid it may be a biohazard or at least next in line to be condemned. You didn't get a little yellow paper adhered to your door did you?" Jessica sarcastically continued as she scrunched her nose as she piled up the empty pizza boxes on the counters and corralled all the empty beer bottles within her reach with a disgusted look on her face.

"Hey!"

Jessica looked up at see Harvey genuinely smiling at her, her muse filled with new life as he repeated easily, "I mean it. Thank you, Jessica."

Jessica smiled back at him and gave him an acknowledging nod, knowing he cared so much more than he even led on. This guy had the potential of the world in him, she was never more sure of anything in her life. There was something about Harvey. Jessica knew now more than ever, she made the best decision of her life believing in him.

And just as Jessica's expression could be soft and kind, she could flip on a switch back to domineering and hard as she forcefully urged him, "Go Harvey! Now!"

"Alright, Alright…" Harvey laughed to himself as he pulled his t-shirt off, giving Jessica an insight as to what was underneath all it after all as he shut the door behind him. Harvey lacked nothing on the outside, of that she was clear after his subtle peacocking session. Harvey was ripped, enough that she could feel the blush rise to her face as she let out a sight of relief that the bathroom door was now shut.

But on the inside, Jessica still had some work to do on her masterpiece.

"By the way, you said girlfriend. Scottie's not my girlfriend!" Harvey hollered from inside the bathroom, to which Jessica huffed a laugh and bit her lip and responded with, "I don't hear that water running. Don't make me come in there!"

*~*THE END*~*

 _[A/N: Thank you for the read and interest in the wrap up of this series. I posted a BONUS CHAPTER! The context of the bonus was meant for the Lust chapter (Chapter 6) but it was way too fluffy and humorous to fit with the tone I ended up going with so it now lives on its own as "cut scene" or "Easter egg" as they say in the business. What are you waiting for, Click Next and ENJOY! I bid you lovely readers adieu! Until next time]_


	8. BONUS: Cut Scene Lust

***~* CUT SCENE – LUST*~***

[A/N: For context, it was supposed to live just before Harvey and Jessica started playing 'Plead the Fifth'. Disclaimer – I own nothing, all belongs to the creator and the USA network. Enjoy!]

"Louis is going to kill you." Jessica dryly stated as the Scotch went down her throat easily as she watched Harvey drop a slew of raspberry bran bars amongst the other goodies on the table in front of her. It appeared as though Harvey took the whole box of breakfast bars. Not that she had ever had one before, but she figured what the hell.

"Screw Louis, we need to eat."

Jessica sorted through Harvey's scavenger hunt and picked up a pack of cookies and snaked the strawberry yogurt causing Harvey to instantly protest in a cute huff, "Why do you get strawberry? I hate vanilla" he whined.

His eyebrows playfully raised with his best puppy dog eyes offered a cute proposal, "Switch?"

"Too bad, you should have been quicker!" Jessica mocked him.

She was so pleased at her immediacy until Harvey responded by taking back the package of chocolate chip cookies in front of her with a mocking raise of his eyebrows. He held the package as though they were his hostage, the means to his end. In Harvey's moment of swiftness and slight startle, Jessica gasped at his brash move not believing he got one over her.

"Put the goddamn cookies down!" she demanded through gritted teeth now on her feet.

"No! Give me my yogurt back and we have an even prisoner exchange." Harvey negotiated, pulling the cookies back a little further from her reach, enticing Jessica to come get them or give in and give him what he wanted.

"No, you breached my borders. I took those fair and square! You're a cookie terrorist!" Jessica accused, loosing her cool a little bit. She was so animated, and Harvey recognized that she was playing with him; another rare form of Jessica that came out only once in while when she needed a fit of laughter for release. Jessica used to do it more often with him in the past. It had been a while and Harvey was not going to squander an opportunity.

"Cookie terrorist? Really?" There was a cute pull at his lips, thoroughly enjoying their exchange.

"I'm not giving you yogurt back now. I would have, if you asked… _really nicely_ " Jessica crossed her arms and didn't break eye contact. Was that a purr in Jessica's voice? Was she flirting with him? Harvey couldn't help but be amused.

"Define _really nicely_?" Harvey skeptically inquired willing to hear her out. His eyes squinted in Jessica's direction and at the charged turn of events that this conversation was starting to take.

Jessica came towards him the few short steps.

Her sharp gaze was on his face as she suggestively tilted into Harvey's space; hands now placed on her hips as she continued to purr, "Get on your knees Specter. All you have to do is ask for it and I'll give it to you."

Her voice may have dropped an octave or two, as her eyebrow rose to the occasion of her clever play on words. She very rarely sexualized her negotiation tactics or minced words. But these, these were special circumstances. This was her, Harvey and an empty floor and Jessica wanted her cookies back.

Using the small window of opportunity she just created for herself, and Harvey still appearing to compute her proposal and process the innuendo, Jessica snatched the cookies right out of his hands with her long reach, leaving Harvey to decipher what the hell just happened.

Jessica used Harvey's distracted state to her advantage, her specialty.

She sat back down in her chair satisfied, leaning back and crossing her legs in victory. Jessica made it a point to place the yogurt in her lap as her insurance plan knowing Harvey wouldn't even attempt to breach her personal space.

It was a clear move of power play.

Jessica opened the pack of cookies watching Harvey's still standing and frazzled trying to decipher his next move. There was a competitive silence as she fumbled with the foil packaging before she continued to egg him on, "You still want it Harvey? Come get it."

Harvey's eyes methodically ran the length of her legs, briefly settling on the cup resting squarely where her hips met her thighs as he offered, "You think I won't come over there and play a little game of chicken with you? Clearly you don't know me very well."

Harvey's response elicited an arrogant bubble of laughter from Jessica at his frankness. "Oh I know you won't."

She attempted to shut him down, once more.

In her eyes, she already won.

Harvey poured himself a scotch and sat back in his seat beside Jessica, unbuttoning his suit jacket with a dramatic pause. Harvey turned his chair to be square with Jessica's perched form and pushed a little further after swallowing his big intake of booze, the burn giving him some additional fuel of braveness, "Why's that?"

"You don't have the balls." Jessica simply stated, placing a piece of her chocolate chip cookie in her mouth slowly, almost seductively.

"Is that so?" Harvey probed, his eyebrow cocked in self-assuredness. It earned Harvey a wordless response from Jessica, an easy nod that was absolute in her assessment of the situation.

"So what happens when in less than a minute from now I can guarantee you I will be enjoying that little cup between your thighs?" Harvey pointed in a generalized, yet arguable location on Jessica's body.

Harvey had never said anything that explicit to her in the time she knew him. Jessica didn't know what to do with it except offer a deadpanned response of "I…I can't believe you just said that to me."

Jessica was momentarily cemented computing the words that just came out of Harvey's mouth, to which Harvey snatched the resting cup from her lap.

It was full-throttle attack on Harvey's part; shock and awe, take no prisoners, a returned power play move.

"In case you were wondering Jess, that's what brass balls sound like clanking together." Harvey laughed hard at the look on her face.

Jessica shoved Harvey in the shoulder as he continued to laugh at her, "You really are an asshole!"

"You should know by now that I don't do ' _really nicely'_ "

"Whatever." Jessica stated dryly, turning her chair back to toward the table resuming her review of the last file she had opened, clearly ignoring Harvey. Harvey knew enough about women, that when a woman said 'whatever'...run! Harvey observed Jessica was terribly miffed at his abrasive display just seconds ago and more so at the fact that he won their last exchange.

"Oh come on, you can't be mad at me when you _just_ did the _exact_ same thing to me." Harvey playfully reasoned.

"I'm not mad."

"Jess…" Harvey tried it on, just to gauge Jessica's reactions.

"Harvey…" Jessica snapped, clenching her fists as she said his name to end the conversation right there and then and continued, "…I'm reading, don't bother me."

"Oooh, ouch." Harvey winced and just eyed her profile as he began to open his reward.

And then Harvey did something that caught Jessica completely off guard.

Harvey looked over at her to his right and offered Jessica the first spoonful.

He watched as Jessica's hooded eyes began to shift toward the spoon he placed her line of sight. Harvey could tell her mind was computing his last move. She made no sudden movements until she tilted her head in an abrupt nod toward the spoon as an implied question of what he was doing.

Harvey just shrugged a simple response.

The smile between them was one of those exchanges between two people that didn't need words. Clearly Harvey was trying to make up for his little manipulative and abrasive move to get what he wanted, to make her smile at him and not scour.

It wasn't just strawberry yogurt, not anymore.

Jessica took the spoon and placed it in her mouth, and inexplicably observed how the look on his face changed.

He went from jovial to …something else…when she twisted the spoon in her mouth and dragged it along the curve of her tongue and out her lips in one fluid motion, eyes wide and lashes batting in flirtation in his direction.

Jessica handed the spoon back to Harvey.

Her eyes never left his face, her eyebrows now slightly knit together at the unreadable look meeting her at the table.

"What?"

"Nothing." Harvey cleared his throat and took a spoonful after Jessica.

They ate for a few moments in silence until Jessica asked him to pass the scotch.

….

THE END


End file.
